Let’s have fun engaging research and/or ephemera as a strategy to approaching our poems or prose!

In this multi-week writing workshop, writers will be immersed in a safe space to experiment, fail, and soar one draft at a time. Our central concern will be how do writers use memory, physical objects, and Big Feelings to enhance the energy of a piece. We will read examples of poems and prose that invite readers to reimagine the work as more than a container for confessions or observation. Instead, we will aim for writing that is alive, in conversation with the broader world, and that pushes the boundaries of the page. We will engage material objects, geography, personal and public history, and popular culture as a stage to explore surprising revelations in tight, lyrical, breath-stealing work. This will be equal parts a generative workshop (designed to create new drafts) and we will also workshop your own writing.

Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).

In this workshop you’ll learn:

• The exciting archival turn in American poetry and prose.
• How to experiment and use different POV.
• How to build a blueprint for your own writing projects.

Time requirements

• There will be writing prompts given that you should bring to completion of a draft for us to discuss during workshop.

Materials

• All reading materials will be provided.

Who should take this workshop?

• This workshop is open to poets and prose writers at any level looking for a new entry point into their writing.

If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.