— from Jill Johnson for Artsmith —
Writer Island Workshops in March and April, sponsored by Artsmith
Artsmith is offering two Writer Island Workshop retreats in 2018, and two scholarships, too!
Join Peggy Shumaker on March 2-3 for “Generosity & Joy!” The workshop will focus on language that opposes hatred and fear. We will write with exuberance and curiosity and pleasure. Some pieces will deal simultaneously with trauma and healing, with pain and growth. Writers of all genres and all levels of experience are welcome.
Or join Kevin Clark for “I’m the One I’m Not: Writing the Persona Poem” April 14-15, during the Orcas Island Lit Fest. Write what you know, they always say… And so, since childhood, most of us have written poems that are about what we know best─i.e., the Wonder of Me.
After a while, however, we may have become a bit bored with the ever-present highway of our interior lives. Maybe a tree has fallen across the road and there’s no getting by. Maybe we don’t like writing about our experiences on Uncle Jake and Aunt June’s swan and mule farm, that home in which we grew up while our parents traveled the globe. Maybe we’ve always preferred the sound of someone else’s voice, anyone’s voice not our own?
What then? Writing persona poems about people we make up or people who actually exist (or once existed) can liberate us and juice up our imagination. While reading persona poems by several contemporary poets, we will examine helpful ways to begin poems that engage the first person voice of the Other.
Register for either or both workshops or apply for a scholarship on Artsmith’s Submittable page. And remember, the scholarship deadline is December 31!
