TLA Network Virtual Salon

TLA Network Virtual Salon

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Join Us!

5:00–6:30 pm ET (UTC-5)

4:00–5:30 pm CT // 3:00–4:30 pm MT // 2:00–3:30 pm PT // 10:00-11:30 pm UTC

Click here to find your timezone.

Our Virtual Salons feature TLAN members who all use the written, spoken, or sung word for personal and community transformation. TLAN members have incredibly generous spirits, and we are excited to provide a venue to feature their artistic work.

The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) virtual salons feature presenters who are active members of TLAN. Each presenter will have 5-7 minutes to present their written, spoken, or sung work followed by a brief period of audience response. 

Registration is FREE and open to anyone, not just members of TLAN and will take place online via Zoom. 

After the reading, there will be an artist talkback and time for questions and engagement from the audience. 

You must register if you would like to attend: a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day before the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

The salons are free to attend and donations to TLAN are very welcome to allow us to continue to sponsor events like this.

Our August Presenters!

Amy Gross is a facilitator, story catcher and story teller. After a career in leadership development, she was given the unexpected gift of a professional pause and practiced simply being and not constantly doing. She rediscovered her hidden dream of writing and her passion for guiding others to discover their own spark and to chase their dreams of “someday.” A Nebraska native, she earned her Ph.D. in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from Kansas State University. https://somedaynow.substack.com/

Anna Gall: Anna Gall’s poetry and short stories are published in eMerge, Persimmon Tree, and Flapper Press. Her poem, "Seashells" is included in the anthology, Dairy Hollow Echo. Balancing The Seesaw is a short collection of her Haiku poems. Strewn Words in the Stew is Anna's memoir as a culinary professional. This is a collection of her recipes, poems, short stories, and sayings to be available in autumn 2025. Anna lives in historic St. Charles, Missouri. https://deannagreensandgardenart.com/

Beth Bando: Beth Bando, author, theatre & eco-artist, guide for personal growth, is inspired by a belief in cultural healing, to create spirit lifting, thought-provoking projects. Speaking events include New Life Expo in NYC, NOW, and seminars she has developed for decades. Books include: Dare 2B Fair: Embracing the Power in Words and What I Learned from an Onion: Big Wisdom from little things. Her one-woman show, Acet-o-philous or Vinegar Love was performed at United Solo Festival, NYC; and Ft. Worth Fringe Festival. Digital eco-art: https://www.youtube.com/@bethbando2025. Seminars and more: https://bethbando.com/

Bobbie Jo Morrell: Bobbie Jo Morrell lives in Colorado, has a Master’s degree in Counseling and is a Certified Spiritual Director. Her spiritual path has led through participating in and leading reflective writing workshops and contemplative practice groups, hiking and backpacking in the Rocky Mountains, including solo backpacking sections of the Colorado Trail. She is currently counseling and leading small groups and workshops in reflective writing while working to finish her memoir. https://shadowhorse.org/

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg: Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 24 books, including The Magic Eye: A Story of Saving a Life and a Place in the Age of Anxiety, How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; and Miriam's Well, a novel. Founder of Transformative Language Arts, she is a beloved writing workshop facilitator and writing coach. She loves life-giving collaborations: she offers YourRightLivelihood.com with Kathryn Lorenzen, Bravevoice.com with Kelley Hunt, and TheArtofFacilitation.net with Joy Roulier Sawyer. Find her weekly “Write Where You Are: A Writer’s Companion” at Patreon.com/carynmg and her blog, “Everyday Magic” at CarynMirriamGoldberg.com.

Kelly DuMar: Kelly DuMar is a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator from Boston. Author of four poetry collections, her poems are published in Bellevue Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Thrush, Flock, One Art, and more. Kelly teaches creative writing workshops for the International Women’s Writing Guild and the Transformative Language Arts Network. A former psychotherapist, and a certified psychodramatist, one of Kelly’s passions is facilitating expressive arts related support groups for psychologists/therapists in war zones, currently including Ukraine, and Israel, since Oct. 7, 2023. A passionate promoter of writing communities, Kelly produces the Featured Open Mic for the Journal of Expressive Writing. Reach her at kellydumar.com

Sarah Sadie & Elizabeth Shepley: Sarah Sadie grows tomatoes in buckets and leads workshops and classes that help creatives find new stories and next steps. Her poetry has been published widely over the last twenty-five years. Online, she holds An Inviting Space on Substack where she shares reflections and hosts a growing circle of creative practitioners, artists and writers. https://aninvitingspace.substack.com

Elizabeth Page Shepley is a multipassionate maker, a storyteller and a steward for those in creative recovery. Rooted in gentle, playful, trauma-informed care, her intuitive transformational coaching method supports other helpers, healers and artists of life seeking to restore a deeper relationship with their creative essence. https://owl-create.com

Tasjha Dixon: Tasjha recently received her MFA in Creative Writing from Buddhist-inspired Naropa University in Boulder, CO.  She is a spoken word artist, whom has performed locally in Kansas City.  She describes her life’s mission being, to illuminate pain and force us to look directly into its tear-filled eyes.  Tasjha received her B.A. in 2006 in Sociology and Women and Gender studies, and has spent her life, thus far, using the world and her communities as the lab where she has been experimenting and testing hypothesis’ about society-at-large and the systems that claim to protect the most vulnerable.  https://empoweringkcwithtasjha.com/