Synchronous Poetry & CNF Workshop with Katie Riegel

This is a 6 week synchronous Poetry and CNF Workshop with Katie Riegel, starting April 12, 2023, limited to 6 students.

ZOOM WORKSHOP
Wednesdays 6-8pm Central Time, April 12-May 17, 2023 (6 sessions)

SEASONS
We have come to live so much by and with our technology that in some ways, the seasons matter
little anymore. But when we remember to look up and out, the seasons crowd our senses: it’s
cool or cold or hot, dry or wet, golden or white or green. Seasons suggest moods and memories,
serve as setting and link us to other centuries. It’ll only be 2023 once, but it’s been spring over
and over again. In this class we’ll read poems and essays that make use of the seasons in
interesting ways: as image, metaphor, and structure. Prompts will ask you to play with the
imagery and ideas of seasons in your own poems and short creative nonfiction works.

LOGISTICS: I’ll email you a sample piece or two and optional prompt one week before each
session. Each of your pieces will be workshopped for approximately 20 minutes, which includes
time spent reading the poem/flash essay aloud, so please understand that long pieces will cut into
discussion time. Everyone will send their files (Word, pdf, whatever) to the group through Zoom
chat when the session begins, so we can all have the relevant piece open on our computers during
discussion.

Katie’s teaching philosophy/style: I believe that our real job as human beings is to try to
understand ourselves and the world. For writers, we do that job with words. And the elements of
craft are tools that we can use as we reach towards understanding, as are the thoughtful responses
of other writers. Do we take workshops in order to improve individual pieces and our writing in
general so we might publish? Sure. But more importantly, we take them to ride the momentum of
community towards writing more, revealing our vulnerabilities more, and trying more new
approaches. To that end, I focus on discussion of what’s working well in a piece of writing and
why, letting the writer know how their writerly choices affected us as readers. We also discuss
interpretation and make suggestions, and the writer has an opportunity to ask their own
questions. Allowing others to read and respond to your writing is an act of courage and faith; I
try my best, therefore, to treat you and your work with respect.