5 Minute Personal True Stories  By  cover art

5 Minute Personal True Stories

By: Writers Read™
  • Summary

  • Writers Read™ is a literary forum promoting established and emerging writers through curated live and digital performances celebrating the spoken word. It’s a high-quality platform for true personal stories—two pages and 650 words long, read aloud by the writer before an audience. Read650 places a strong emphasis on the craft of writing—word choices, sentence structures, the arc of the narrative. Our submission-based events are developed around broad themes that invite a wide range of expression. An editorial committee curates and sequences the content of each show and, where necessary, our editors collaborate with writers to further refine their work.
    2021 Read650 dba Writers Read™, a 501©(3) nonprofit literary arts organization.
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Episodes
  • Straight Outta Ireland
    Mar 17 2023
    In many parts of the United States and certainly in New York City, the St. Patrick's Day holiday is often larded with a kind of shamrockery or paddywhackery that makes some of us cringe a bit. You know -- the mugs of green beer and those big "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons and t-shirts. Instead of overcooked corned beef and cabbage, Writers Read™ acknowledges this St. Patrick's Day with four rich personal stories reflecting the lived experiences of Irish and Irish-American writers—individual perspectives, presented with an emphasis on craftsmanship. Originally performed for a live audience at City Winery in Manhattan, these stories were proudly presented as part of Carnegie Hall’s citywide spring festival, “Migrations: The Making of America,” acknowledging and honoring the perseverance and resilience of immigrants and the contributions they continue to make on America’s diverse cultural landscape. Writers Read™ celebrates writers and the spoken word five minutes - and 650 words - at a time, and this week, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, we celebrate Irishness with true personal stories from writers Anthony Murphy, Malachy McCourt, and me. And, on today’s “Between The Lines” segment, writer Colin Broderick recalls the challenges he faced as a young man in New York while trying to establish himself as a writer.
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    Less than 1 minute
  • Holidays
    Nov 23 2022
    Holidays are a time to celebrate cultural traditions and set work aside. A holiday offers a break in our routine, prompting a three-day weekend in the sun—or a three-hour snow delay at the airport. Some holidays are lightweight and fun, making you think about watermelon and fireworks, while others seem solemn or fraught, setting the stage for either a delicious meal or a family drama. The special "Holidays' event we presented on stage at the Ossie Davis Theater featured a collection of true holiday stories spanning the range from sunburn to heartburn. We've chosen three of those stories to present in today's show.
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    24 mins
  • Haunted
    Oct 26 2022
    Corinne O'Shaughnessy • Five / Sharon Forman • Ghosts at the Costco / Cari Pattison • The Bronxville Exorcist • BTL: David Masello • A Postcard on Postcards. Read 650 celebrates writers and the spoken word five minutes - and 650 words - at a time, and on today’s show we present excerpts from a show entitled "Haunted," featuring true stories of Premonitions, Superstitions, and Apparitions. Halloween has been around for more than a thousand years, and its origins can be traced back to an ancient Celtic festival during which it was believed that the souls of the dead returned to their homes.
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    26 mins

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