Tickets Available for Write On Gala

Carrie Fountain

Carrie Fountain Featured at Fall Gala 

Take a journey into the Poem Forest at Write On’s fall gala Sept. 29 on the grounds of the Writing Center. The gala features keynote speaker Carrie Fountain, in a celebration of where words meet nature and old friends unite with new. 

Get your tickets before they’re gone for this special evening with the 2019 Texas Poet Laureate and author of three books of poetry. Her work has appeared in Poetry Magazine, American Poetry Review and The New Yorker. She hosts This Is Just to Say, a radio show and podcast where she has intimate conversations on the writing life with other poets and writers.

Her first children’s book, The Poem Forest, inspired the theme for the evening. The book tells the tale of the former U.S. Poet Laureate W. S. Merwin who spent 40 years planting the world’s most comprehensive palm tree forest on a blighted piece of land in Hawaii – and then gave it all away. 

“Writing gives voice to the voiceless things around us, and the environment is one of those things,” Fountain says.

Tickets are $125 through Sept. 13, when fees increase to $150 if still available.

Attendees will be treated to a cocktail hour and lively conversation, a meal by Thyme Catering and dessert donated by Fresh Personal Chefs. There will also be a silent auction of “Forestscape” painting by Ginnie Cappaert used in promotional materials for the gala and a celebration of “Witalison Woods,” a 20-acre addition to the Write On campus.

A slew of collaborative events will lead up to the event to extend the inspiration beyond one evening. The Friends of Gibraltar are bringing Fountain to Gibraltar Schools for school assemblies and have organized a half-day field trip to bring Gibraltar fifth graders to explore the woods and trails at the Writing Center with Sheryl Honig, environmental educator at The Ridges. Then they will create a book about those experiences with local author Ann Heyse.

The Door County Climate Coalition is hosting “Talking about Climate Change Effectively with Media and the Public” with Dominique Brossard, Ph.D., at the Kress Pavillion Sept. 13, 7 pm. Brossard will address the need for clear, easy-to-understand communication to promote action about climate change. Gala attendees will also be able to take home a tree of their own donated by the Door County Climate Coalition. Tickets are available online at writeondoorcounty.org.