Join the Association of Rhode Island authors at Cranston’s The Elephant Room for “The Lively Literati” on Thursday, June 25 at 6:30 p.m. This month, Rhode Island writers Joshua Blum (A Shadow in the Moonlight), Mary Catherine Volk (Believe in Forever) and Don Hagist (The Revolution’s Last Men) will be reading excerpts from their work. Following the readings, the audience is invited to utilize our “open mic” to share a portion of their own short, creative works. The event will be hosted by poetry editor Deborah Halliday (The Poetry of Godey’s Ladies Book.) Admission is free.

ARIA is proud to announce that it will be participating in the 2015 Providence International Arts Festival! On Friday June 12 at 6 p.m., visit Aurora on Westminster street for the hilarious Writers Behaving Badly. Then on Saturday at 3 p.m., A Writer’s Feast will feature ARIA President and author Steven R. Porter and a non-fiction writer’s workshop with authors Paul Caranci, Don Hagist and Judith Glynn.

And later that evening on your way to Waterfire, stop by the Arts Marketplace in Burnside Park where dozens of books from all your favorite RI writers will be available for purchase. For more information, visit: http://first-works.org/events/pvdfest/.

And all these events are free!