**PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A VIRTUAL PROGRAM THAT WILL TAKE PLACE VIA ZOOM. Registrants will receive a link to access the Zoom Meeting via email.** 

Are you a writer -- or an aspiring writer -- looking for some support? The new Tewksbury Writing Group, which generally meets the third Monday evening of every month, is open to everyone who's interested in writing -- all genres, all skill levels. Each meeting -- which will take place via Zoom -- features a guest speaker (typically a published author or editor) offering some tips of the trade. Between meetings, members can share their work for reading and friendly critiquing via the group's list-serv.

The June 2022 guest speaker is S. Lee Manning. S. Lee Manning spent two years as managing editor of Law Enforcement Communications before realizing that lawyers make a lot more money. A subsequent career as an attorney spanned from a first-tier New York law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, to working for the State of New Jersey, to solo practice. In 2001, Manning agreed to chair New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), writing articles on the risk of wrongful execution and arguing against the death penalty on radio and television in the years leading up to its abolition in the state in 2007.

​An award winning writer, Manning is the author of international thrillers. Her life-long interests in Russia and espionage are reflected in her Kolya Petrov thrillers. Her first novel, Trojan Horse, winner of the 2020 Kops-Fetherling International Phoenix Award for New Voice in action/thriller and a finalist for Killer Nashville's Silver Falchion Award in two categories, and the National Indie Excellence Award for political novels, debuted in October 2020, and Nerve Attack was launched in September 2021. Bloody Soil, her third novel, will be launching in November 2022.

Manning also began performing as a stand-up comic after taking a class at the Vermont Comedy Club. In 2019, she was a semi-finalist in the Vermont's Funniest Comedian contest. Manning lives in Vermont with her husband and very vocal cat Xiao, but frequently visits her daughter Jenny in California and her son Dean in New Jersey. Learn more about Manning HERE.

The group is facilitated by author Dale T. Phillips, who has published novels, story collections, non-fiction, and over 70 short stories. Stephen King was Dale's college writing teacher. Dale has found time to appear on stage, television, radio, in an independent feature film, and compete on Jeopardy (losing in a spectacular fashion). He's a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Sisters in Crime.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.