What is a literary salon? (and why you should attend one)

A brief history of creative salons, writing as resistance, plus a few writing prompts

If you suddenly feel like you’re hearing the terms “literary salon” or “creative salon” all over the place, you’re not alone. And there’s a good reason.

Salons have a long, looooong history, but the gist of it is this:

Some say salons date all the way back to 7th Century Europe when emperors hosted gatherings in their bedchambers while they dressed in the mornings. But more often, they are traced to the Italian Renaissance and French Enlightenment periods of the 16th -17th centuries.

A salon, named for the type of room in which they were often held (sala or salone in Italian), was a place for people to exchange ideas. Those people were often creative types — artists, musicians and writers.

The private nature of salons allowed open conversation without fear of the government interfering. Additionally, the private nature made them common for women, who were often excluded from other gatherings.

First Lady Martha Washington is said to have held salon-style gatherings weekly at the White House, giving private citizens access to the government. This set the stage for gatherings in the U.S. that mirrored the rise of literary salons in Europe.

In the 1800s, literary papers and journals with prominent writers popularized salons in the U.S. In the 1920s, Gertrude Stein hosted Saturday Evening Salons. Then there was the Harlem Renaissance and the revival of African-American art, music, and dance.

War times. Civil Rights. LGBTQ rights. Women’s rights… Salons. Salons. Salons.

They became safe places not only for artists and writers, but for many marginalized, disenfranchised people to gather and talk, share their lived experience, give shape and context to their stories, and transform the horrors of the world into art (art that could then be amplified and stir people to action).

We need salons now.

Salons never really went away, but a lot of people hadn’t heard of them until recently. No doubt they’re seeing a resurgence because there is increased need for safe spaces to share ideas, art, lived experience. Not just for women. Not just for groups that have long been oppressed (for whom the need for salons never faded). But for any of us who are craving intimate spaces where we can show up as ourselves, listen, create, talk, plant seeds.

Everyone is an expert on their own life.

It’s important to note that you don’t have to consider yourself a writer or artist to attend or benefit from a salon.

The thing I love most about creative salons is that there’s no single expert. It’s not a town hall or debate. There’s no power structure where one person is more knowledgeable than another. It’s not about persuasion or reasoning with facts.

It’s about expression in community. It’s about feeling less alone. Lighting a creative fire. Embracing stories as a vehicle of change (and connection).

How to host a salon:

Invite people over. Have them bring a snack to share. Serve some beverages. Remind folks that there’s no agenda. No experts here. No egos. Ask them to share something that inspired them recently — a bit of writing, a song, a poem. Offer stories from your own lives. Listen. Really listen and see one another. Maybe leave some time for writing and thinking, for generating new ideas. Then send people back out into the world, whole and fed. Remind them that the world needs them and their ideas too.

Rinse and repeat.

There’s a brand new independent bookstore near where I live, and I’m working with the owners to host a few creative salons this spring where people can come to listen, to read, or to write. I’m also collaborating with friends to host a few in-home salons.

Last week I did a test run over Zoom with a group of women in Arizona and it felt energizing, nurturing, and hopeful in a way I hadn’t felt in a while. We talked and shared stories, and I led them through a few writing/conversation prompts which I’ll share below.

Prompts you can steal:

• What’s a story that is often told ABOUT you, not by you? Maybe family lore or a popular fact that’s shared about you, a funny story in your friend group? How would you tell the story differently?

• Pick one issue or topic that inspires or enrages you. How are you connected to it? How are you NOT connected to it? In what ways will you never fully understand it?

• How is your story really everyone’s story? Our lived stories are unique and personal to us, but there are ways we can find threads and draw lines between our experiences and the universal. What lines can you draw? (don’t be afraid to literally draw something)

I wish I could gather all of my readers here, together for one giant salon. I’d love to see your faces and hear your ideas. I’d offer to make you a Negroni or a NA spritzer and feed you crackers and cheese and fig jam. Maybe we can gather in the comment section though? Tell me something that you saw or read that inspired you recently:

In other news:

• For Hippocampus magazine, I wrote about the relationship between readers and writers, and how authors can use publicity (which we all dread!) to get closer to their audience.

• For Psychology Today, I shared a few ways childhood trauma shows up in adult relationships (hint: it’s not the life sentence that some experts would have us believe)

• I’ll be teaching two classes this summer at Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop Lit Fest. And I’m reading at one of their salons! Mark your calendar for June 6-13th and watch their website for details.