October 12, 2024 

Business Meeting:  10 a.m.

Program: 10:30 a.m.    The Well, 210 South James Garner Avenue, Norman, OK. Zoom will be available.

Speaker: Judith Briggs Coker

JUDITH BRIGGS COKER, a native of Rutland, Vermont, has lived most of her adult life in Oklahoma, having been educated at Boston University, Oklahoma City University, and the University of Oklahoma. Aside from some years teaching overseas, she has lived in Norman the past thirty years. Her writing and teaching career has been augmented by working in a variety of art media, most recently acrylic, monoprint, and woodcuts. Coker is the author of two books: a juvenile novel, Firecracker (2023), set in 1940s Norman, Oklahoma, and Guam and Other Islands: A Miscellany (2024), a short memoir of variously-styled pieces enhanced by woodcuts drawn from her travel photos. She is a member of Women in Action for All Norman, the UCC Congregational Church of Norman, Morning Star Center for Spiritual Living, Norman Galaxy Writers’ Group, and OWFI. Her love of family, travel, and gardening enrich her life. 

  September 14, 2024 

Business Meeting:  10 a.m.

Program: 10:30 a.m.    The Well, 210 South James Garner Avenue  

Speaker: Nathan Brown

Nathan Brown is an author, songwriter, and award-winning poet who doesn’t live anywhere in particular. He holds a PhD in English and Journalism from the University of Oklahoma. He served as Poet Laureate for the State of Oklahoma in 2013/14 and travels fulltime performing readings, concerts, workshops and speaking on creativity, poetry, and songwriting.

During his Galaxy ‘Snapshot Memoir’ presentation, he will talk about how to write stories in segments and snapshots, timelines, and vignettes.

Nathan has published published more than 25 books. Most recent is his new memoir, The Broken Summer: The Birth of a Vagabond – Book 1, and a new travel memoir Just Another Honeymoon in France: A Vagabond at Large. Karma Crisis. New and Selected Poems, was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize and the OklahomaBook Award.     

His earlier book, Two Tables Over, won the Oklahoma Book Award. His latest album of all original songs, The Streets of San Miguel, features Paul Simon’s accordionist, Joel Guzman and international fiddle champion, Warren Hood.

 He’s taught songwriting, memoir, poetry, and performance workshops from Tuscany and Ireland to the Sisters Folk Festival in Oregon, the Taos Poetry Festival, the Woody Guthrie Festival, Laity Lodge, the Everwood Farmstead Foundation in Wisconsin, as well as for Blue Rock Artist Ranch near Austin, Texas.

    

His online live video series The Fire Pit Sessions—inspired by the Pandemic Poems Project—has had more than 80,000 views. At almost 300 episodes now, Nathan reads a few poems from the project and performs a song at the end.

 

 August 10, 2024 

Business Meeting:  10 a.m.

Program: 10:30 a.m.    The Well, 210 South James Garner Avenue  

BETSEY KULAKOWSKI is a federally-trained investigator with 30+ years of experience as an occupational safety specialist and a degree in emergency management. Betsey served on disaster response teams at the Murrah Federal Building Bombing, the World Trade Center, Hurricanes Katrina/Rita, and other disasters in Oklahoma. 

Betsey is the author of the bestselling, award-winning, paranormal thriller, The Veritas Codex, and the series of the same name. She has experience as an amateur paranormal investigator and is an avid history buff and family genealogist.

 NGW Speaker Meeting:

NORMAN GALAXY OF WRITERS SPEAKER MEETING

PRESENTS ANDY RIEGER

WHEN:     July 13, 2024

WHERE:   The Well, 210 South James Garner Ave., Norman, OK

Andy Rieger, a Norman native, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma. He has worked as a reporter and editor on Oklahoma newspapers for more than 40 years, retiring from the Transcript in 2015 after serving as editor for 20 years. He has taught reporting and journalism history classes as an adjunct professor at OU for many years. Rieger is a member and past president of the Norman Rotary Club and has twice chaired the United Way of Norman annual fund drive. He enjoys cycling and sailing. 

 Galaxy Meeting: 

WHEN: June 8, 2024, 10 a.m.-12

WHERE:  The Well, 210 South James Garner Avenue, Norman, OK (Zoom available).

WHAT: Presentation by University of Oklahoma Professor Emeritus Geary Hobson

Geary Hobson champions his Cherokee-Quapaw/Chickasaw heritage. He is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and literary scholar. He was among the first professors in the U.S. to teach Native American literature. He helped establish the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas (NWCA), an international consortium of Native and Non-Native writers and scholars. In 2003, he received their Lifetime Achievement Award. His written works include:

• Deer Hunting and Other Poems, 1990
• The Last of the Ofos, 2000 (novel)
• Plain of Jars and Other Stories, 2011 (short stories)
• The Road Where the People Cried/ nunna da-ul Tsunyi, 2020 (poetry)
• A.B.C. (novel)
• Down Arkansas Way and Other Stories

Galaxy Meeting: May 11, 2024, 10 a.m.-12 Noon 210 South James Garner Avenue, Norman, OK 

SELAH HIRSCH is a brand strategist who has worked with more than 200 companies and nonprofits, helping them strengthen the way they talk about what they do, how they do it, and why it matters. Her work in brand development brings energy and vision to assist people in confidently communicating their work. Selah’s website is https://expressmybrand.com.

APRIL 2024 MEETING

WHEN:    April 13, 2024 (Business meeting is at 10:00 a.m.; speaker begins at 10:30 a.m.)

          WHERE: The Well, 2010 James Garner Ave, Norman, OK

   SPEAKER: Shel Harrington

Shel Harrington is a humorist who writes for a (chronologically!) mature audience at FatBottomFiftiesGetFierce.com and on her Fat-Bottom Fifties Get Fierce Facebook page.