Name: Writing from Photographs with Sonja Livingston | Gates Library
Start: 2026-10-12
End: 2026-10-12

History comes alive at the largest living history museum in New York. GCV&M invites your family to step back in time with costumed interpreters to explore the 19th-century Historic Village, including the working brewery, blacksmith, pottery, tin shop and the baby animals on the farm. GCV&M is also home to the John L. Wehle Gallery, Genesee Country Nature center, and Silver Base ball Park. Open seasonally with special events all year long. It's located in Mumford, NY, just 20 miles southwest of Rochester and 45 miles east of Buffalo.

Genesee Country Village & Museum

GCV&M offers several guided group experiences throughout the year. Experiences applicable to a minimum of 20 people.

Lovin'cup is a carefully crafted full-service restaurant, bar and Rochester's most unique music venue! We serve amazing burgers, a fun appetizer selection, delicious salads, homemade soups, fresh pressed panini, made-from-scratch sandwiches, creative wraps, grain and ramen bowls, and more! We also offer up a fine rotating micro-brewed beer selection, wonderful wines from around the world, and thoughtful specialty cocktails! We have live entertainment most nights of the week, including live music, trivia, beer and wine tastings and more!

Lovin'cup Bistro and Brews

Since 1958, Fabulous Flowers has been Rochester, NY's leading flower and gift shop for occasions throughout Monroe County. Family owned and operated by the Dougherty's, the shop boasts a talented staff of award-winning designers. Fabulous Flowers is located at 217 West Ridge Road across from Eastman Business Park.

Fabulous Flowers and Gifts

The Hochstein School, founded in commemoration of genius and dedicated to providing access to opportunity, is a vibrant community of musicians, dancers, and supporters who choose to come together in this historic and inspiring place to develop in themselves, and in each other, the ability to speak and communicate through the making of music and dance. We do this with the conviction that music nurtures, enriches, and energizes every human life, and that the joy of making music, and all the expressive arts that it inspires, holds the key to creating a better world. Conveniently located in the heart of Downtown Rochester, consider Hochstein for your next retreat, workshop, conference, graduation, or recognition event. Hochstein boasts ample nearby parking and handicapped accessibility. Optimal availability occurs on weekday mornings to mid-afternoons, but weekends can be scheduled with advance notice. The mission of the David Hochstein Memorial Music School is to provide people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities with access to excellent music and dance education in a community that nurtures and encourages personal achievement. Music moves us.

The Hochstein School

Kodak Center is a public gathering place for entertainment and events conveniently located minutes from downtown Rochester with more than 1,000 available parking spaces. The 1,968-seat theater hosts a variety of large-scale, national touring concerts, comedy, theatre, family and film shows, as well as community events such as recitals, competitions and graduations. The facility also offers multiple event spaces available to rent for any private occasion, such as meetings/conferences, wedding/galas, birthday/anniversary parties and fundraisers. Learn more about booking and rental opportunities at https://www.kodakcenter.com/p/book. View the current schedule of upcoming entertainment and events at https://www.kodakcenter.com/events.

Kodak Center

Winter: An outdoor ice skating rink with a kidney-shaped surface. Patrons can enjoy an expanded warming shelter that features a heated floor and fireplace, new rental skates and a sound and lighting system. Summer: In the warmer months, the ice rink doubles as a reflecting pool equipped with three fountains. The colorful playground provides a water spray park to cool children off from the summer heat. Benches and picnic tables around the rink serve as picnic spots during the summer. The warming shelter is available for rental from April-October.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park

The Genesee Brew House, previously a 9,200 square-foot space bottle house, captures and shares the rich history of The Genesee Brewery. Located nearby High Falls, the Genesee Brew House has become a top destination in Rochester. The Brew House features interactive exhibits and historical artifacts, as well as a pilot brewery with a tasting room, pub-style restaurant, and gift shop. Brew House guests enjoy spectacular views of High Falls, along with a variety of seasonal and specialty beers! Tours of the pilot brewery are offered throughout the week and allow guests to learn about the brewing process and history of the Genesee Brewery.

Genesee Brew House

While Black Creek Park is still a relatively undeveloped park, its 1,505-acres has many unique features to offer. The park provides opportunities for hiking, soccer, fishing, horseback riding, sledding, and cross country skiing. It also features a playground located near the Pathfinder Shelter. The park offers five hiking trails, all of which are excellent settings to view nature and animals. Black Creek has two enclosed lodges, both hold 99 people and are heated. Inside the lodges there are round folding tables, folding chairs, a fireplace, bathrooms and a full kitchen. Outside each of them there is a large charcoal grill. There is one open-air shelter, which includes picnic tables, a large grill, and a water spigot. The shelter has electricity and the bathrooms are nearby.

Black Creek Park

Durand Eastman Park was formally dedicated on May 22, 1909 and is currently 977 acres. The 5,000 feet of Lake Ontario waterfront at Durand Eastman Park creates a relaxing summer environment, while supporting a winter challenge for cross-country skiers. Its steep wooded slopes, valleys, scenic vistas, small lakes, spring flowering trees and spectacular fall foliage colors add to this park’s exceptional beauty. Durand Eastman Park has eight shelters and one enclosed lodge for rent, a playground and a golf course. Durand Eastman Park is home to 8 shelters and 1 lodge for rent. The shelters vary in location, size, and nearby amenities.

Durand Eastman Park

At 447 acres, Ellison Park has the beauty of natural woodlands combined with steep slopes and the level flood plain of the Irondequoit Creek. Ellison has 5 softball diamonds, 1 multi-use athletic field, and a playground. It has an off-leash Dog Park. Tennis courts are located in the park off Blossom Road, and are lined for Pickleball also. There is one designated sledding hill located in Ellison Park. A non-motorized/car-top boat launch is located by the Circle Shelter allows you to boat in Irondequoit Creek. Fishing is also allowed. Ellison Park has many trails; their locations are shown on the trail map. Fort Schuyler is another attraction that the park offers; this replica of the original Fort is a great attraction for the whole family. This park has four enclosed lodges and six open-air shelters including a premium lodge, the Pavilion Lodge!

Ellison Park

Rochester, NY, is the third-largest metropolitan area in New York State, nestled along the southern shore of Lake Ontario. With a proud sports tradition, Rochester is home to iconic teams like the Rochester Red Wings (MiLB), Rochester Americans (AHL), Rochester Knighthawks (NLL), and Flower City Union (NPSL). Our vibrant sports culture thrives across all levels, from youth clubs and high schools to elite collegiate programs, creating a strong, year-round foundation for athletic excellence.

The Rochester NY Sports Commission champions Monroe County through the power of sports tourism. By attracting championships, invitationals, and tournaments across a wide range of disciplines, we help fuel the region’s economy and enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. Each year, Rochester welcomes a growing roster of sporting events, showcasing our top-tier facilities, supportive community, and dedication to teamwork on and off the field.

We invite event organizers, rights holders, and sports professionals to discover why Rochester and Monroe County are ideal destinations for your next competition or tournament. Let’s play in Rochester!

Visit Rochester

What can photographs tell us about our lives today, the traditions of our past, and the world we want to create? Which stories, emotions, details, secrets, and meanings lie just outside frame of the photograph?

Whether you’re creating memoir, poetry, family history, or a scrapbook—using photographs to inspire or accompany your work can add much-needed texture, focus, and intimacy. This session will offer tips and writing prompts to help get you started. You’ll have time to discuss your work in a supportive environment and come away with fresh ideas and drafts to refine or expand into longer projects. Bring 3-5 photographs (phone or hard copy) that intrigue, inspire, or hold great meaning for you.

This workshop is presented as part of our [Rochester Reads 25th Anniversary](https://writersandbooks.org/rochester-reads/) programming. Participants in this workshop will learn from Sonja Livingston, author of our 2026 Rochester Reads selection, *Ghostbread*.

**Sonja Livingston** is the author of four books of creative nonfiction, including the award- winning memoir Ghostbread, which has been adopted for classroom use around the country. Her work appears in The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Salon, and elsewhere. Honors include a NYFA Fellowship, an Iowa Review Award, an Arts & Letters Prize, a VanderMey Nonfiction Prize, and an AWP Book Prize. Sonja is an associate professor in the MFA Program at Virginia Commonwealth University and teaches in the Postgraduate Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Writing from Photographs with Sonja Livingston | Gates Library

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