Picasso once said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” This playfully generative workshop for poets and writers alike will practice letting go of self-consciousness so that we can better experiment with the enigmatic toy that is language. We will consider literature as an opportunity for creative play, tapping into that freedom we reveled in as children but may have forgotten in adulthood.
Grackle and Grackle instructor Lauren Berry will jump-start your writing with thematically diverse activities. Participants will examine the structures and themes of published writing and then draft their own imitative responses. All experience levels are welcome. Everyone will leave with several drafts and ideas for future writing sessions. We look forward to your attendance this February at Grackle and Grackle!
Lauren Berry received a BA in Creative Writing from Florida State University and an MFA from the University of Houston where she won the Inprint Verlaine Prize and served as poetry editor for Gulf Coast. From 2009 to 2010, she held the Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute. Terrance Hayes selected Lauren’s first collection, The Lifting Dress (Penguin), to win the National Poetry Series prize in 2011. She lives in Houston, Texas where she teaches AP English Literature at YES Prep Public Schools, a charter school for Houston’s most underserved communities. Lauren is currently finalizing her second manuscript of poetry, The Rented Altar.