Writing Classes & Workshops 

In "The Archaeology of Knowledge," Michel Foucault writes, “The frontiers of a book are never clear-cut: beyond the title, the first lines, and the last full stop, beyond its internal configuration and its autonomous forms, it is caught up in a system of references to other books, other texts, other sentences: it is a node within a network.”

     In this generative writing class, we will begin with a word or phrase, line or lines from another book of poetry. After mapping out ideas, feelings, rhythms, syntaxes and words we associate with the line or lines we have brought in, we will start work on our own poems.

     (Throughout, we will engage in mini-breaks that can be incorporated into people’s everyday writing rituals in the future, to spur our creativity and collaboration as a workshop).

     The lines we begin with may be embedded in the poem we write, or turn out to serve as the seed, scaffold or prompt. The process of building a poem in conversation with other poets and poetry, is one that will hopefully prove to be a rewarding approach for you to take in your writing practice moving forward.

​

JULIA GUEZ is a writer and translator based in the city of Houston. "The Certain Body" (Four Way Books, 2022) is her second collection of poetry, written while she was recovering from COVID in the spring of 2020. Guez holds degrees from Rice and Columbia.

     To date, she has received a handful of recognitions for her work, including the Discovery / Boston Review Poetry Prize, a Fulbright Fellowship and a translation fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

     Her work has appeared in POETRY, The Guardian, BOMB, Kenyon Review and The Brooklyn Rail. For the last decade, she has worked with Teach For America, New York; Guez has taught creative writing at NYU and Rutgers and in workshops across the country.

     With her wife, Elizabeth, she has three sons.

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35

Memory (the deliberate act of remembering) is a form of willed creation. It is not an effort to find out the way it really was--that is research. The point is to dwell on the way it appeared and why it appeared in that particular way.
               -Toni Morrison

In this genre-bending workshop we will collectively and independently explore and interrogate stories, communal folklore and our archival of memories. We will lay our memories (from multiple points of view) out and jigsaw them to create first drafts of The Haibun, and The Nines poems. All class text will be provided by workshop facilitator. 
​

ANASTACIA RENEÉ is a queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, playwright, former radio host, TEDX speaker, and podcaster.

     She is the author of Here In The (Middle) Of Nowhere, Side Notes From The Archivist, (v.) and Forget It. Sidenotes from the Archivist was selected as one of “NYPL Best Books of 2023,” and, The American Library Associations (RUSA) “Notable Books of 2024.”

     She is a recipient of the James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award (Literary) and she was selected by NBC News as part of the list of "Queer Artist of Color Dominate 2021's Must See LGBTQ Art Shows," for (Don’t Be Absurd) Alice in Parts, an installation at Frye Art Museum.       Renee served as Seattle Civic Poet (2017-1019) during Seattle’s inaugural year of UNESCO status. Renee has been, Hugo House Poet-in-Residence, and Jack Straw Curator. Their work has been published widely. 

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35

Some songs have a magical way of transporting us through time. They evoke vivid memories, stirring up feelings of nostalgia, joy, or reflection.

     In this workshop, we’ll explore the songs that have shaped us and look at how music can serve as a powerful gateway to poetry. We’ll look at the songs that connect us to our past, reliving moments of youth while discovering fresh insights in the present. Then, we’ll discuss how to transform these emotional snapshots into poems.

     Whether you’re a seasoned poet or a newcomer to writing, this workshop invites you to turn the soundtrack of your life into art. 

​

MATT MASON is the former Nebraska State Poet and was the Executive Director of the Nebraska Writers Collective from 2009-2022. Through the US State Department, he has run workshops in Botswana, Romania, Nepal, and Belarus.     

     Mason is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Nebraska Arts Council. His work can be found in The New York Times, on NPR’s Morning Edition, in American Life in Poetry, and more. Mason's 5th book, Rock Stars, was released by Button Poetry in 2023.      

     Matt is based out of Omaha with his wife, the poet Sarah McKinstry-Brown, and daughters Sophia and Lucia. Find more on his website.

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35

How do the landscapes we've lived in shape the way we think, feel, and create? In Crossing Open Ground, Barry Lopez suggests that “the shape of the individual mind is affected by land as it is by genes.” There is a profound connection between our inner lives and the physical spaces we inhabit.

     In this generative workshop, we will consider the ways the physical world influences our interior landscapes, and how those interior landscapes, in turn, might shape our poems. 

     Through guided prompts, reflective discussion, and close readings of place-inspired poems, you’ll learn to translate your experiences of land — whether wide-open spaces, urban corners, or intimate settings — into vivid, textured poetry.

​

JESSICA POLI is the author of Red Ocher (University of Arkansas Press), which was a finalist for the 2023 Miller Williams Prize. Her work has appeared in Best New Poets, North American Review, Poet Lore, and Salamander, among other places.

     She is currently a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she is an Associate Editor for Prairie Schooner.

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35

In an era defined by turmoil, poetry of witness is newly defined by resistance. Although anger is culturally maligned as immature, reactionary, hysterical, and easily dismissed by the structures that be, what connects us to seemingly insurmountable forces of oppression is our fury in the face of indignity.

     In this workshop, participants will work in the lineage of poetry of witness, considering the evolution and contemporary iteration of the response poem. Together, we will work with, not through, righteous indignation at the state of the world. This is not fine. Let’s whine about it. 

​

RAENA SHIRALI is the author of two collections of poetry. Her first book, GILT, was released by YesYes Books in 2017 and won the 2018 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award. Published by Black Lawrence Press in October 2022, her second book, summonings, won the 2021 Hudson Prize and was shortlisted for the 2022 Julie Suk Award.

     Winner of a Pushcart Prize & a former Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University, Shirali is also the recipient of prizes and honors from VIDA, Gulf Coast, Boston Review, & Cosmonauts Avenue.

     Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, The Nation, The Rumpus, & elsewhere.

     Formerly Co-Editor-in-Chief of Muzzle Magazine, Shirali now serves as Faculty Advisor for Folio—a literary magazine dedicated to publishing works by undergraduate students at the national level.

     She holds an MFA in Poetry from The Ohio State University and is an Associate Professor of English at Holy Family University. 

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35

In this workshop, we'll explore how hybrid poetry serves as a powerful tool for self-exploration and expression.

     By engaging with the fluid and transformative nature of hybrid forms, we’ll delve into how our identities, shaped by the intersections of various influences, can be authentically reflected in our writing.
We will examine how hybrid poems, which blend elements of narrative, memoir, and cultural commentary, allow us to navigate the complexities of our inner and outer worlds.

     Participants will have the opportunity to create works that capture the richness of their experiences, exploring themes of identity, place, and the self in all its dimensions.
     This workshop invites writers to move beyond traditional forms, using hybrid poetry as a way to express the multifaceted nature of their authentic selves.

     Whether you’re experienced in poetry or new to this form, this workshop will provide a supportive space to explore the connections between our lived experiences and our creative expressions.

​

MK CHAVEZ is a writer and educator whose work explores mixed-race identity, social justice, environmental resilience, horror cinema, magic, ritual, and the creative process. 
     As founder of the Ouroboros Writing Lab, MK Chavez provides a nurturing space for writers to grow. The Lab offers workshops designed to expand creative boundaries and individual and group creative coaching. 
     Chavez’s work is recognized with the Pen Josephine Miles Award, San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award, and the Ruth Weiss Maverick Award. Chavez’s publications include Dear Animal, Mothermorphosis, the lyric essay chapbook A Brief History of the Selfie, and Virgin Eyes. Recent work can be found as part of the art installation Manifest Differently.

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35

Writing from out of the ordinary in an exploration in peculiar poetry.

     In this workshop, we will look at poems that deal with the supernatural — poems that peer beyond the veil and utilize a supernatural element. From Poe, Keats, Lorca, and Rossetti, among others, we will explore these poems and what they say about the seen and unseen world.

     Through these works, we’ll consider how the supernatural in poetry reflects deep-seated human questions about mortality, reality, and the limits of human understanding. By reading and discussing these pieces, participants will engage with how different eras and cultures have expressed universal themes of fear, mystery, and fascination with the unknown.

     Participants will have the opportunity to ruminate and investigate poems of the paranormal, gaining insights into how these eerie elements serve as a window into humanity's beliefs and values. They will also craft their own poems with a twist of the eerie, adding to a long-standing tradition of poetic exploration that bridges the tangible and intangible aspects of human experience.

​

KIARA NICOLE LETCHER is the author of Oxblood, (Agape Editions, 2024) and the chapbook Scream Queen (Orchard Street Press, 2019).

     Her work has appeared in South Dakota Review, Green Mountains Review, Plainsongs Magazine, Solstice Literary Magazine, Querencia Press and Mulberry Literary, among other publications. Her work is also forthcoming in Laurel Review.      She received her MFA from The University of Nebraska at Omaha and previously served as a Board Member for the Nebraska Writer’s Collective. She was the 2024 Keynote Speaker for the Nebraska Scholastic Writing Awards and a Nebraska State Poet Nominee. You can find her at her website, or on Instagram @kiaranicolebang.

​

After you register, you will receive an "admission ticket" with the zoom link information on it.

​

$35 or FREE to Members

Annual Membership $35