Finding Poems: a hands-on workshop - J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg
10:00am – Noon
In this fun and fast-paced workshop, Judy Kleinberg will offer an overview of found poetry techniques and an opportunity for you to experiment and identify the ones that resonate for you. You’ll discover ways to add found elements to more conventional-form poems and to use found prompts to kick-start new work. Some materials will be provided, but your writing notebook, pens, paper, scissors, junk mail, magazines (or books you’re willing to cut up), and glue sticks will be welcome.
Co-editor of Noisy Water: Poetry from Whatcom County, Washington (Other Mind Press 2015), Pushcart-nominated writer, artist and poet J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg works and plays with words. Her found-word collages, from a growing series of more than 1,200, have appeared in Diagram, Hedgerow,Otoliths, Yew Journal, Shadowgraph, Atlas & Alice, Truck,Journal of Compressed Creative Arts and elsewhere. She blogs most days at chocolate is a verb and the poetry department and doesn’t own a television.
Why Write Collaboratively? - Kami Westhoff and Elizabeth Vignali
1:00 – 3:00pm
Most people think of writing as a solitary act, yet ultimately the goal of the writer is to connect with the reader. Through collaboration, the writer can connect in a more immediate, tangible way. Writing with others can rejuvenate a sometimes lonely process, allowing the writer to be both contributor and reader, enhancing their perception and bringing into focus the goal of that ultimate connection with the reader.
One of the wonderful things about collaboration is that there are nearly as many ways to collaborate as there are types of people, so anyone can find a collaborative process that works for them. In this workshop, we’ll engage in various collaborative exercises that highlight our strengths, as well as encourage us to venture outside our comfort zones and ultimately enable us to grow as writers.
Knowing another writer’s name will be attached to your piece of writing can push us to work a bit harder to find that image that sears into the reader’s consciousness, to offer that perspective that incites action or a quiet moment’s reprieve, to render that scene in a way that promises the reader that even in a lonely world there are profound connections to be made, not the least of which come through the written word.
Kami Westhoff’s work has appeared in various journals including Meridian, Carve, Third Coast, The Pinch, Passages North, Redivider, and West Branch. Her poetry chapbook,Sleepwalker, won Minerva Rising’s 2016 Dare to Be contest and will be published this fall. She teaches creative writing at Western Washington University.
Elizabeth Vignali is an optician and writer. Her poems have appeared in various publications, including Willow Springs,Crab Creek Review, Nimrod, Floating Bridge Review, andMenacing Hedge. Her chapbook, Object Permanence, is available from Finishing Line Press. She lives in Bellingham, Washington, with her daughters, a geriatric cat, and a variety of spiders in the dark corners of the laundry room.