The Frenchtown Bookshop and ArtYard are excited to announce One Book/One Frenchtown returns this year with a town-wide journaling event inspired by Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy.
Community members are invited to gather together this fall to journal in response to prompts from The Book of Alchemy, a journaling companion, offering a collection of essays and writing prompts by fellow authors to inspire and guide readers. Like any group practice, from meditation to yoga, journaling is better when done together. Journaling club events are planned at the Frenchtown Bookshop, ArtYard, and other local partners from Oct. 19 – 26.
Writer and artist Suleika Jaouad, author of Between Two Kingdoms, has kept a journal since she was young. She’s used it to mark life’s biggest occasions and to weather its more ferocious storms.” With The Book of Alchemy, she shares stories and prompts that will inspire everyone to write or draw.
“The journal has been my refuge, a hiding place, a searching place, a finding place,” Jaouad said. “It’s where I’ve navigated heartbreak and three cancer diagnoses, wrestled with the big unanswerable questions, and found beauty and small joys to counterbalance the sorrows. I’ve learned if I can be in conversation with myself on the page, I can be in conversation with the world.”
The Bookshop and ArtYard will create dedicated public journaling spaces available during business hours, providing notebooks and guides written by Suleika Jaouad for anyone to use. In addition, local venue partners are hosting their own gatherings to include members of their community for this town-wide effort. We will facilitate these meetings by providing notebooks, guides, and a copy of The Book of Alchemy for each event. A detailed calendar of event dates hosted at participating venues will be released on October 5th.
“It’s a way to meet old friends and make new ones, to be present together, and to share stories to meaningfully connect,” Jaouad said of journaling clubs.
ArtYard will host a journaling club from 5:30 to 6:30 PM on Friday, Oct. 24 at our Bridge Street Residency Reading Room, 12 Bridge St, Frenchtown. A culminating community gathering for all participants will be held from 5 to 6 PM on Sunday, Oct. 26 at ArtYard’s Creekside Residency Lawn, 50 Trenton Ave., Frenchtown.
Modeled after “One Read” programs across the world, One Book/One Frenchtown aims to gather neighbors to read, talk about, and engage with the same book, promoting critical conversations, community building, and literacy through fun and engaging townwide events. As Stephen King said, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” In 2024, the inaugural selection was The Book of (More) Delights by best-selling author Ross Gay.
How Does It Work?
A Week Of Journaling
To celebrate the release of The Book of Alchemy we are hosting a week of journaling meetups around Frenchtown, starting October 19th until October 25th. The Bookshop and ArtYard will create dedicated public journaling spaces available during business hours, providing notebooks and guides written by Suleika Jaouad for anyone to use. In addition, local venue partners are hosting their own gatherings to include members of their community for this town-wide effort. We will facilitate these meetings by providing notebooks, guides, and a copy of The Book of Alchemy for each event. Information about events at participating spaces will be announced in October.
Guidance For Events
Whether you are interested in a self-guided journaling session or attending one of our partner events, our goal is to encourage neighbors to engage with The Book of Alchemy and get inspired to pursue a writing practice. If you’d prefer a solo-journaling session, simply visit The Bookshop or ArtYard, read through an essay or two, and dive into a journal prompt.
For communal journaling events, groups of all sizes will read essays from The Book of Alchemy, journal to the accompanying prompts, and have a conversation about what thoughts and feelings arose. The length of the gathering will depend on the group, but the journaling guide includes an outline as well as variations to accommodate everyone.
You will not be expected to share what you’ve written. In fact, we have found that this takes some of the magic away by placing emphasis on a product over process. To guarantee the comfort of all participants, we will provide stickers to seal the edges of filled pages so that subsequent writers will not be able to read your entry.
Try It At Home
We encourage you to host your own journaling event! All you need is a copy of The Book of Alchemy, a notebook, a pen, and a group of people. The Bookshop has signed copies of The Book of Alchemy (while supplies last) available for pick up or home delivery to accompany your gathering. Follow the links below for access to Suleika Jaouad’s journaling guide and book page.
Visit The Frenchtown Bookshop for more information and to purchase The Book of Alchemy
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