Writers Connect! Writers Workshop with Elise Chidley

Are you a writer or wannabe writer?  Here's your chance to meet up with like-minded souls! Hang out with fellow writers, find your people, share information about writing, submitting, author events, and more. Every month we will try to feature a local writer with expertise to share. This month, Gabi Coatsworth, a local author with two books out, a memoir and a novel, will be talking about publishing and marketing. Darien resident Amy Sarbinkowski will also talk about writing freelance articles for magazines. 

Come join us! This workshop is for writers of all levels, from beginners to published authors.

About the Presenters

Elise Chidley’s first novel, Your Roots Are Showing, was nominated in two categories of the 2009 RITA © Awards: Best First Book and Best Single Title Contemporary Romance. Elise received her MFA from Penn State and currently teaches writing at the Westport Writers' Workshop. One of her stories was shortlisted for the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award, and another for the Ian St. James Award. She works as a freelance editor and loves the process of helping writers elevate their work.

Gabi Coatsworth is an award-winning British-born author and blogger, who has spent half her life living in the United States. Her memoir, Love’s Journey Home, was published by Atmosphere Press in May 2022, and won first place in the CT Press Club Awards. Atmosphere also published her debut novel A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over, which won the 2023 Indie Author Project Prize for Connecticut. She’s been published in anthologies, trade publications, and literary journals, both in print and online, and runs several groups for writers in Connecticut. She also teaches memoir-writing at the Stamford Library.

Amy Sarbinowski started her magazine career at age 22 at Forbes, and has worked at several other periodicals including American Health, Parenting Magazine, and Woman's Day, where she won a journalism award for editorial excellence from the American Academy of Dermatologists for an article on skin cancer. For the past decade, Amy has been a freelance writer for Moffly Media, writing for both Darien, New Canaan & Rowayton Magazine and Stamford Magazine.