Sorrow's Words: Writing Exercises to Heal Grief with Sheila Bender

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Date: Saturday, January 7th
Time: 10:00am to 3:00pm
Cost: $150
Limited to 10 Participants (minimum of 5)
Where: Online

Using writing exercises with models from published work, we will explore not only writing from grief (coming at the truth slant as Emily Dickinson advises) but many joyful memories in hiding during grief. Many of the exercises are based on my book Sorrow's Words: Writing Exercises to Heal Grief and my new collection Since Then: Poems and Short Prose through which I learned patterns for writing the conversation one most wants to have while in grief and after the rawness has healed over. Participants will be encouraged to share the writing they do in class for response (not critiquing) aimed at helping the writer write more.

Sheila Bender has written many instructional books on writing, several volumes of poetry, and a prose memoir. Writing is her passion but her passion for facilitating others is as large. Since the death of her 25-year-old son in 2000, Sheila has written the words she has needed to come to terms with loss and the life she wants to live with love and joy. These writings culminated in her memoir, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief, Sorrow's Words: Writing Exercises to Heal Grief, as well as her newest poetry collection, Since Then: Poems and Short Prose. You may already know the way she values writing and those who write from her long-running KPTZ FM program "In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life."

Exploring the Surreal in Prose Poetry with Jose Hernandez Diaz

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Dates: Mondays, January 9th - 30th
Time: 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Cost: $100
Limited to: 15 participants
​Where: Online

​Exploring the Surreal in Prose Poetry. First, we will take a look at what is surreal prose poetry? Through close readings of established masters we will gain insight into prose poetry. Next, with use of the instructor's own prompts we will write drafts of prose poems in class. Poems from the instructor's class have been published in The Georgia Review, Crab Creek Review, Honey Literary, Brazos River Review, and elsewhere.

Jose Hernandez Diaz holds degrees in English and Creative Writing from the University of California, Berkeley, and Antioch University Los Angeles. He is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020) and Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024). His work appears in The American Poetry Review, Boulevard, Cincinnati Review, Huizache, Iowa Review, The Nation, Poetry, The Progressive, The Southern Review, The Yale Review, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011. He teaches creative writing for various organizations including Beyond Baroque, Litro Magazine, The Writer’s Center in DC, Hugo House, Roots/Wounds/Words, and elsewhere. 

The Ongoing Poetry Workshop with Gary Copeland Lilley

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Dates: Wednesdays, January 11th - March 15th
Time: 5:30pm to 8:00pm
Cost: $250
Limited to: 8 participants
​Where: Online

​A weekly poetry workshop open to writers of any skill level or genre, a gathering of writers coming together in a supportive environment to work on the development and refining of our personal aesthetics. Yes, free to do your poetic thing with a focus on the crafting of poems, and on not judging poets. That is exactly the attitude this ongoing workshop has always maintained, while working the literary elements we use to create poems: gaining an understanding of poetry’s major operating modes, discovering ways to build the sharper images, enhance the poem’s musicality, and to convey those subtle meanings and significant statements uncovered in the poetic process. Each week, bring 9 copies of a poem in progress. Simply put, this workshop rocks as much as you want it to.

Gary Copeland Lilley is the author of eight books of poetry, the most recent being The Bushman's Medicine Show, from Lost Horse Press (2017), and a chapbook, The Hog Killing, from Blue Horse Press (2018). He is originally from North Carolina and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. He has received the Washington DC Commission on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry. He is published in numerous anthologies and journals, including Best American Poetry 2014, Willow Springs, The Swamp, Waxwing, the Taos International Journal of Poetry, and the African American Review. He is a Cave Canem Fellow.

You’re Done/You’ve Just Begun with Patrick Jennings

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Dates: Tuesdays, February 7th - 21st
Time: 1:00pm to 3:00pm
Cost: $150
Limited to: 5 participants -- FULL
​Where: Online

You finally got that story for kids written down. Congratulations! Now what?

This three-week workshop will focus on moving toward a fully realized, submittable manuscript. We’ll stress-test structure, point-of-view, characterization, and themes; we’ll discuss readership; and we’ll pore through all aspects of submission, including finding and working with agents, editors, illustrators, and publishers, all with the goal of getting your book into the hands of story-hungry children.

Patrick Jennings is the author of 25 books for young readers - published by Scholastic, Random House, HarperCollins, among others - including Guinea Dog, We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes, and Odd, Weird & Little. He is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award, Booklist Editor's Choice Award, Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children, New York Public Library Best Book, and was a PEN Center USA Literary Award finalist as well as a PNW Booksellers Association Award nominee. Jennings has been a presenter at schools and libraries all over the US and abroad for over twenty years.

The Art and Craft of Poetry: A Consideration of the Sonnet with Kathryn Hunt

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Date: Saturday, February 25th
Time: 1:00pm to 4:00pm 
Cost: $90
Limited to: 10 Participants
Where: Online

The sonnet is an elegant form, one that will add shine to your poetry chops. The sonnet is a vital influence on contemporary lyrical/narrative poetry, even when poems don’t announce themselves as sonnets. This generative workshop offers a chance to learn the fundamentals of the sonnet, strengthen your writing practice, and begin new poems. We’ll read and discuss some sonnets, including innovative poems by Terrance Hayes, Diane Seuss, Wanda Coleman, and, well, Bill Shakespeare. You’ll write drafts based on prompts, and I’ll offer feedback (if you’d like) while your workshop mates listen. The workshop aims to foster a supportive atmosphere that encourages and builds a community of poets on the peninsula and beyond. I’ll send you a packet of sonnets a week or so before the workshop. kathrynhunt.net

​​Kathryn Hunt makes her home on the coast of the Salish Sea, on the ancestral lands of the S’Klallam, Chemakum, and Suquamish. Her poems have appeared in Orion, Radar, Terrain, Missouri Review, and Narrative, among other journals. Her second collection of poems Seed Wheel was published by Lost Horse Press in 2021 and a chapbook The Country I Come From was published by Refugia Press in 2022. She’s recently completed a memoir, The Matter of All Things. Kathryn Hunt has worked as a waitress, shipscaler, short-order cook, bookseller, food bank coordinator, filmmaker, and freelance writer. kathrynhunt.net

Crash, Boom, Bang! A Generative Flash Fiction Workshop with Lauren Davis

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Date: Sunday, March 5th
Time: 10:00am to 12:00pm 
Cost: $60
Limited to: 10 Participants
Where: Online
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Can you get to the Bang! in your story in under 1,000 words? How about 500? What about one sentence? Davis will go over the craft elements of flash fiction, and then she will provide a handful of writing prompts to get your pen moving. The workshop will be focused on generating new work, so it’s appropriate for all levels of experience. Come explore the world of flash, where the only rule is length.

Lauren Davis is the author of Home Beneath the Church (Fernwood Press) and When I Drowned (Aldrich Press), and the chapbooks Each Wild Thing’s Consent (Poetry Wolf Press), and The Missing Ones (Winter Texts). She holds an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars, and she is the winner of the Landing Zone Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest. Her work has appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies including Prairie Schooner, Spillway, Poet Lore, Ibbetson Street, Ninth Letter and elsewhere. Davis lives on the Olympic Peninsula in a Victorian seaport community.

The Art and Craft of Poetry: Braiding a Poem with Kathryn Hunt

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Date: Saturday, March 18th
Time: 1:00pm to 4:00pm 
Cost: $90
Limited to: 10 Participants
Where: Online

A braided poem picks up three or four strands of thought and braids them together. In the end, the meanings, concerns, and urgencies of each strand reflect off of and into each other, the whole becoming greater than the separate strands. This generative workshop offers a chance to learn the fundamentals of the braided poem, strengthen your writing practice, and walk away with a new draft or two. We’ll read and discuss braided poems, you’ll write poems based on prompts, and I’ll offer feedback (if you’d like) while your workshop mates listen. The workshop aims to foster a supportive atmosphere that encourages and builds a community of poets on the peninsula and beyond. I’ll send you a packet of braided poems a week or so before the workshop.

​​Kathryn Hunt makes her home on the coast of the Salish Sea, on the ancestral lands of the S’Klallam, Chemakum, and Suquamish. Her poems have appeared in Orion, Radar, Terrain, Missouri Review, and Narrative, among other journals. Her second collection of poems Seed Wheel was published by Lost Horse Press in 2021 and a chapbook The Country I Come From was published by Refugia Press in 2022. She’s recently completed a memoir, The Matter of All Things. Kathryn Hunt has worked as a waitress, shipscaler, short-order cook, bookseller, food bank coordinator, filmmaker, and freelance writer. kathrynhunt.net

The Art and Craft of Poetry: Inhabiting the Persona Poem with Kathryn Hunt

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Date: Saturday, April 22nd
Time: 1:00pm to 4:00pm 
Cost: $90
Limited to: 10 Participants
Where: Online

Want to spice things up a little? Begin the new year by trying your hand at the persona poem. The persona poem allows you to imagine your way into the life and voice of another. A brew of research, memory, and a generous splash of imagination, a persona poem can personify a historical figure, a great-grandparent, a celebrity or politician, the humble woman down the block. You can even personify part of yourself, to gain perspective or create camouflage. This generative workshop offers a chance to learn the fundamentals of the persona poem, strengthen your writing practice, and begin new poems. We’ll read and discuss persona poems, you’ll write poems based on prompts, and I’ll offer feedback (if you’d like) while your workshop mates listen. The workshop aims to foster a supportive atmosphere that encourages and builds a community of poets on the peninsula and beyond. I’ll send you a packet of persona poems to read a week or so before the workshop. kathrynhunt.net

​​Kathryn Hunt makes her home on the coast of the Salish Sea, on the ancestral lands of the S’Klallam, Chemakum, and Suquamish. Her poems have appeared in Orion, Radar, Terrain, Missouri Review, and Narrative, among other journals. Her second collection of poems Seed Wheel was published by Lost Horse Press in 2021 and a chapbook The Country I Come From was published by Refugia Press in 2022. She’s recently completed a memoir, The Matter of All Things. Kathryn Hunt has worked as a waitress, shipscaler, short-order cook, bookseller, food bank coordinator, filmmaker, and freelance writer. kathrynhunt.net