Celebrating our group's achievements! and other news.
NWG Member featured at Water Street Studios!
Diana Lund recently shared comedic scenes from her memoir about her father at Water Street Writers’ Studio’s February event at Water Street Studios in Batavia on Feb. 1, 2026.
Diana’s books are available for purchase through the following links.
Click here for Remind Me Why I’m Here
Click here for A Waking Mind
Water Street Studios
Founded in 2009, Water Street Studios, located at160 South Water Street, Batavia, IL, 60510, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a welcoming home for self-discovery and expression. A community for artists of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of education, and for those who love art.
Water Street Writers is now accepting submissions for the next reading on April 19, 2026, at the Republic of Letters web page:
We are saddened to announce that Waterstreet contributor Lennart “Len” Lundh recently passed away.
Lennart “Len” Lundh, 77, of Orland Hills, Illinois, quietly passed away on February 1, 2026, after a short battle with cancer.
Len was a fine poet and a great friend to writers everywhere. He was featured as NWG’s guest for Poetry Month in 2018
Len was born on August 15, 1948, to Carl and Asta Lundh of Burbank, Illinois. He married Linda “Lin” Scott on April 18, 1968.
Congratulations, NWG member Loretta Morris, on your latest publication!
Loretta’s story, Just Jay, was recently published in the online magazine Months to Years. Here is the link to her story! https://monthstoyears.org/just-jay
Loretta Morris has also been published in:
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles & Divine Intervention (Chicken Soup for the Soul, 2021) and,
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Well That Was Funny (Chicken Soup for the Soul, 2023)
She is also a two-time winner of the Richard Eastman Founder’s Prize for Prose by the Naperville Writers Group, Rivulets 27, 2014, and Rivulets 30, 2018.
Well done Adam Zmarzlinski on your new book!
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Traditional Christmas Stories For The New World
Now avalable at Amazon!
We want to Thank the following people for speaking with our group.
Nina Sudhakar, the recent winner of the 2004 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction Where to Carry the Sound, joined us via Zoom.
Thomas Chockley, a journeyman haiku poet and facilitator of the Illinois State Poetry Society-Haiku Society of America Haiku Chapter, helped us celebrate National Poetry Month this last April 5th.
And … Congratulations to Naperville Writers Group member Mike Albrow‘s latest publication, Space Times Matter, which is getting published on Amazon!
Exciting things are happening!
We just celebrated the release of Rivulets 37, our
annual literary anthology, on Saturday, October 25 at the Naperville 95th Street Library.
The evening recognized outstanding writing with two founder’s prizes. Tom Moran, poetry judge, awarded the Marylyn Houghton Keyton Founder’s Prize for Poetry to Prabha Girish for her poem, Cleansing.
Patrick Dunn, prose judge, presented the Richard Eastman Founder’s Prize for Prose to Ravi Shenoy, The Two Kali Temples
Patrick Dunn, Bakul Banerjee, Ravi Shenoy, Prabha Girish, Tom Christophe Moran
Adam Zmarzlinski's new book is now on sale at Amazon!
This Annotated Anonym Curated Edition of Traditional Christmas Stories for the Modern World offers:
- An original, in-depth introduction exploring the legacy and importance of the selected Christmas stores, their authors, the symbolism there in, and the importance of Christmas as a tradition.
Traditional Christmas Stories For The Modern World is now on Amazon!
Click on this link to view it on Amazon!
Recent Events!
Nina Sudhakar, the recent winner of the 2024 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, Where to Carry the Sound, met with us via Zoom!
writer/poet/editor/photographer/lawyer
Nina Sudhakar is a writer, poet, and lawyer. Born and raised in Connecticut, she has since put down roots in NYC, DC, and London and is currently based in Chicago.
Nina also holds a JD/MSFS from Georgetown University and a BA from Amherst College. She is also a member of the New York Bar.
For more information, please check out her website:
https://www.ninasudhakar.com/writing
Nina graciously joined us via Zoom on March 19 and read from her book, “Where to Carry the Sound”, and engaged in a Q&A session with our group afterward.
We heard her stories, gained insight into her writing process, learned about her journey to publishing with a university press, and explored her experiences with book marketing.
Thanks to everyone who joined us on this special event!
Our members recently had an entertaining trip on the South Side!
The five-hour tour of Chicago visited sites associated with events like:
The Great Chicago Fire and the Leopold & Loeb Murder Trial; places like “Millionaires Row” and Camp Douglas; institutions like the old The Defender building and Third World Press; important authors ranging from Lorraine Hansberry to James T. Farrell; monuments to the likes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Ida B. Wells; and murals depicting Sandra Cisneros and Carlos Cortéz.
Along the way, they visited famous Chicago literary sites.
They moved through a variety of South Side neighborhoods, including Little Italy, Pilsen, Little Village, Bridgeport, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Kenwood, Chatham, Back of the Yards, and Bronzeville.
The group had lunch at Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap, an old watering hole frequented by Saul Bellow, Phillip Roth, and The Compass Players, among others.
A reading list was provided for those who wanted to explore this literature more deeply.
The tour began and ended in Little Italy/University Village, at the former site of Mrs. O’Leary’s barn.
To all our members:
Drink & Draft Poetry Road Show, March 8, Batavia Public Library, Eliz. Hall Conf. Rm. 9:30 am. Using Kim Addonizio’s Ordinary Genius as a text. (The online version of this workshop is also available.)
- Ink Slingers, Eileen’s informal poetry salon for sharing verse, is scheduled for this coming Monday (Confirmation requested)
- Warrenville Writers Group is planning a Saturday writing workshop also. Details pending.
- Warrenville Open Mike at Warren Tavern, April 12. (See attached flyer)
2024 Rivulets Book Launch event
2024 Printers Row Lit Fest
Naperville Writers Group was proud to continue being represented at the fest this last Saturday and Sunday!
It was a wonderful weekend, and we want to thank everyone who stopped by to buy our member’s books and chat with us about our group!
And what else could be better than capping the weekend off with the great wins by the Cubs, the White Sox, and the Bears?
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