Madwomen in the Attic, a writing program at Carlow University, is dedicated to empowering a diverse community of women writers and building intergenerational connections. Participants range from 19 to 98 years old. Founded in 1979 from a small group of women interested in Tillie Olsen‘s writing on working women and class issues, the program has grown over the past four decades, continuing to uplift and inspire writers through mentorship and creative collaboration.
Sarah Shotland has led the program as director since 2022 and witnessed its continued development.
“The program has gone through several directors, and each of those directors really put their mark and their vision on the program. Each of them expanded it,” Shotland tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
“One of the more recent directors of the program was the poet Jan Beatty, who really expanded the program. Because Jan is such a celebrated and beloved poet, not just in Pittsburgh but in the country, she also brought a lot of nationally and internationally recognized poets to the program.”
Beatty was the director of the Madwomen program for over a decade and retired in 2022.
The program also supports various genres of writing. Shotland says, “People often think that we only focus on poetry, but we also focus on all other genres of writing as well.”
There’s also a publishing arm, an anthology, a reading series, and the Patricia Dobler Poetry Award.
“If you participate in a Madwomen workshop, you are getting to have the mentorship of these really incredibly accomplished writers who are the facilitators for the workshop,” Shotland says. She also credits Beatty for building “this amazing roster of teaching artists we have.”
Among Madwomen’s facilitators are Doralee Brooks and Sheila Carter-Jones, both published authors and graduates of Carlow’s Master of Fine Arts program.
Brooks, who joined Madwomen in 2011, first became interested in the program in 1995 through word of mouth while participating in the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project.
“I always heard about it and for me, it was kind of just something really intriguing and exclusive … I got this invitation through the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project through Jan Beatty in 2011, and that’s when I realized you could actually sign up for a class.”
She said joining Madwomen allowed her to trust the writing process and recognize the value of community support.
“Writing can be very isolating. I think being with other people who are also invested in their writing, and being able to support them, and to get support from them, is very important for a writer,” Brooks says. She also mentions how Beatty became a strong writing mentor during her time as the Madwomen director.
In 2019, Brooks began her role as a Madwomen facilitator. She says it is an honor to be in the role. “I’m able to share what I’ve learned, share resources, and to look up information that will help people,” Brooks says. “I’m able to read the work that people present in the workshop, and to share my thoughts about it.”
Brooks’ chapbook When I Hold You Up to the Light won the Cathy Smith Bowers Chapbook Award in 2019. She recently edited an anthology called The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain, which features poems about Pittsburgh.
Carter-Jones enrolled in the Madwomen in the Attic program in 1992, drawn by the need for a creative outlet during her sabbatical from teaching. Her published work includes chapbooks Three Birds Deep and Elegy-Ish. She says the program significantly influenced her writing journey by expanding her understanding of poetry and the way she can adopt language to write.
“It helped me become more aware of the possibilities of what you could use to get the written word to mean what you want it to mean. That expanded my understanding and what I could do,” she said.
Carter-Jones also finds inspiration in reading the work of other poets in the program.
“I really study language and how other people use it, what they think about it, and then adapt that to my own writing,” she said.
As a Madwomen facilitator, Carter-Jones aims to help writers tap into their creative potential.
“What I’m facilitating is people already come with their own sources and resources of creativity. I am trying to bring forth what they already have and how they can use that in their writing,” she says.
She emphasizes the importance of community and support for women writers.“I think women carry so much more responsibility that sometimes we forget about ourselves.” Carter-Jones continues, “I think women need trust in a community of other women.”
Shotland says the sense of community and support among Madwomen is strong, with participants ranging from emerging writers to established authors.“We aren’t competitive, we’re collaborative, and I think the success of one of us is the success of all of us.”
She adds, “The most rewarding part of being in this role is inheriting the incredible legacy of Madwomen and particularly the legacy of the visionary leaders that came before me.”
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.
