What’s New with WbtR

Upcoming Events

We hope to see you at an upcoming event! Click an event below to view more details.

Member Spotlight

In a year of frequent intrastate travel, Alexandra “Zan” Delaine Hailey collected images of the Virginia landscape, the arts, the music of rock and rave, fusing them together into a series of tightly crafted poems. In Intrastate Lines, she takes readers on a meandering journey, capturing creatures, colors, tunes, and textures witnessed in nature, on highways, backroads, and celestial pathways, each poem, celebrating a moment—treasured yet ordinary. Together, the poems form a meditation, a celebration of life—her life and ours. Link here: Intrastate Lines.

Member Spotlight

Our own “Brother Love,” Thomas Burson, has (finally!) published his first book of poetry!

This is a collection of poetry that was designed to be read aloud. Tested in many open mics and coffee shops, the authors favorite compliment is “I don’t know if it is poetry cause I like it and I know I don’t like poetry.” 

Link here: The Roller Coaster Begins.

Applications for 2024-2026 Prince William County Poet Laureate

Calling all Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park Poets:

The Poet Laureate Circle invites you to nominate the next Prince William County Poet Laureate for 2024-2026. Applications will be accepted from April 18 to June 15. Nominations and self-nominations are both accepted.

For more information regarding nomination guidelines and to submit your nomination, click here.

Golden Nib Submissions

Deadline July 31!

Virginia Writers Club’s 2024 Golden Nib writing contest is officially open. Each submission must filter through the writer’s local chapter in order to be considered. That means you must submit your poem, fiction, or non-fiction piece through our chapter for judging before the top entries in each category can be forwarded to the state organization.

The strict submission rules and copies of the required cover sheet can be found here: VWC Golden Nib.  If you are a paid member of Write by the Rails AS WELL AS a paid member of the Virginia Writers Club, you may submit your entry (or entries) to [email protected]. Please read the guidelines very closely so that you can format your entry and your cover sheet correctly.

Our judges will send back any entry that lacks the proper formatting or does not include the cover sheet IF THERE IS ENOUGH TIME before our submission deadline, so please be diligent in adhering to the contest rules.

Only paid members of both organizations are eligible.