By day, Kara Kinney Cartwright is a legal editor from North Potomac, Maryland, but her superpower is “trying to save the world with punchy humor about unwritten social rules and expectations.” A widowed mother, she’s writing a book “for grieving Gen-X and Millennial women who would sooner cut their own bangs than seek advice for… Read More
“Who wouldn’t want this honor because Erma is the G.O.A.T.,” one writer wrote in a pitch to be selected for A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program. All applicants told us they thirst for a block of uninterrupted time to lock themselves in a hotel room and write. “My… Read More
We have lined up dozens of remarkable authors, bloggers and humorists to review and rank the 2023 entries in A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program. The judges, all established writers, will narrow the field for final judging by improvisor Dion Flynn, best known as Barack Obama (and other… Read More
Dear Erma, I once met a woman whose #1 bucket list item was to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in person. Tears streamed down her face as I snapped her photo in front of it. Some people might dream of living in Paris, or owning a 1965 Shelby Mustang, or doing the Lord’s work and… Read More
Kristen Mulrooney spent seven years “writing in 10-minute increments” around caring for three young children. What could she do with some alone time? In the last two weeks she wrote 75,000 words — the first draft of a humorous novel — in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio. As one of three 2022 grand prize… Read More
Nancy Cartwright, best known as the voice of Bart Simpson, and Mike Reiss, writer for The Simpsons for three decades, will select two humor writers for a fun, unconventional writing residency that promises winners the gift of time to hole up in a hotel, write — and order free room service. The Erma Bombeck Writers’… Read More
