One Book/One Frenchtown: The Book of Alchemy Journaling Club

Join us for a journaling club event at the ArtYard Reading Room at our Bridge Street Residency, 50 Trenton Ave, as part of the town-wide One Book/One Frenchtown. What's a journaling club? A gathering that’s equal parts tender and mischievous. A way to meet new people or go deeper with old friends. To write together. To share—or not. To surprise yourself.

“It’s a way to meet old friends and make new ones, to be present together, and to share stories to meaningfully connect," Jaouad said. “The journal has been my refuge, a hiding place, a searching place, a finding place. It’s where I’ve navigated heartbreak and three cancer diagnoses, wrestled with the big unanswerable questions, and found beauty and small joys to counterbalance the sorrows. I’ve learned if I can be in conversation with myself on the page, I can be in conversation with the world.”

We'll provide the journals, pens, and some snacks. You will not be expected to share what you've written. In fact, we have found that this takes some of the magic away by placing emphasis on a product over process. To guarantee the comfort of all participants, we will provide stickers to seal the edges of filled pages so that subsequent writers will not be able to read your entry.

All participants will be invited to join us for a community gathering at 5 PM on Sunday, Oct. 26.

This year for One Book/One Frenchtown, the Frenchtown Bookshop and ArtYard have selected The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad. This latest book by Suleika, author of Between Two Kingdoms, explores the expansive and life-saving practice of journaling. The Book of Alchemy is a journaling companion, offering a collection of essays and writing prompts by fellow authors to inspire and guide readers. To celebrate the release of The Book of Alchemy, we are hosting a week of journaling meetups around Frenchtown, starting October 19th until October 25th. The Bookshop and ArtYard will create dedicated public journaling spaces available during business hours, providing notebooks and guides written by Suleika Jaouad for anyone to use.

Host or Publisher ArtYard