Creative writing is a tool for knowing yourself, understanding the world, and connecting with other people. Led by author Seema Reza and accomplished guest writers—including poets, memoirists, novelists, and storytellers—these community workshops follow the model developed by Community Building Art Works (CBAW) over the course of a decade of bringing people together in military and hospital settings. Each workshop is designed to help participants put their personal stories on paper in a supportive environment.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been writing for years, you are welcome; no experience is required. Bring a pen, a notebook, and an open mind!
Registration closes at 4pm Eastern Time before each session so we can prepare. Please make sure you're subscribed to Strathmore emails to receive the Zoom info.
Thu, Dec 19 | 7pm Eastern Time
Your Writing Out Loud with Rosamond S. King
Mary Oliver stunned with a calm, clear voice; Gwendolyn Brooks emphasized rhythm; Jayne Cortez didn’t always read a poem the same way. This relaxed workshop for people new to or nervous about reading out loud will guide writers through recognizing and developing their own reading style. We’ll learn vocal exercises and explore modulation, breath, and pacing. There will be some writing, but please bring a poem of 10-20 lines or 200-400 words of prose to work with – and be ready to use your voice and body. Please note that all participants must have their cameras on for this workshop.
Writer and performer Rosamond S. King is the author of poetry collections All the Rage and the Lambda Award-winning Rock | Salt | Stone. Her poems have also been published in more than three dozen journals, blogs, and anthologies.
This workshop will not be recorded.
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Thu, Jan 16 | 7pm Eastern Time
Coming Clean: How to Tell the Truth with Susanna Sonnenberg
You hold many truths, many realities and experiences. How to choose what to write? How to be honest when you do? We will work with prompts to loosen the stories and gently find the right words for authentic telling.
Susanna Sonnenberg is the author of two memoirs, Her Last Death and She Matters: A Life in Friendships, both New York Times bestsellers. Her essay "Mirage" is a Notable Selection in the 2024 Best American Essays. She has taught in person and online for more than a decade. She lives in Missoula, Montana.
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Thu, Feb 20 | 7pm Eastern Time
Memory as Lyric, as Inheritance with Nathan Xavier Osorio
In this generative workshop we will write deeply to consider how poetry transforms personal and public memory to enact alternate histories, exercise identity, and embody ways of thinking and being. Using our writing practices as creative and critical tools, we will examine how, why, and to what effect memory in poetry can be experienced. We will ask questions like, “What histories can multiple languages reveal in a poem?” “Can we reanimate a (cyber, spiritual, or othered) place in a prose poem?” or “Can the poem be a manual for remembering?”
Nathan Xavier Osorio’s debut collection of poetry, Querida, was selected by Shara McCallum as the winner of the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. He is the author of The Last Town Before the Mojave, selected by Oliver De la Paz as a recipient of the Poetry Society of America’s 2021 Chapbook Fellowship. He received his PhD in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His writing has also appeared in Notre Dame Review, The Offing, Boston Review, Public Books, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. His writing and teaching have been supported by fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, The Kenyon Review, and Poetry Foundation. He is a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine.
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Thu, March 20 | 7pm Eastern Time
Using Research to Write the Self with Natalie Lima
Are you working on personal narrative and interested in bringing in something extra, what the industry calls memoir plus? In this workshop, we'll consider different approaches for bringing in the "plus" (research, history, science, criticism, educational content, etc) into our personal story and what that means in today's ever-changing creative nonfiction/memoir landscape. We'll take a look and discuss current nonfiction and use writing prompts in this 90-min session.
Natalie Lima received her MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Arizona. She's received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers, PEN America Emerging Voices, the VONA/Voices Workshop, Letras Boricuas/the Mellon Foundation, Tin House, and Hedgebrook Writers. Lima is an Assistant Professor of English at Butler University.
REGISTERRegistration closes at 4pm before each session so we can prepare. Please make sure you're subscribed to Strathmore emails to receive the Zoom info.
Check back soon for more information on instructors for the remaining dates.
Seema Reza is the author of the poetry collection A Constellation of Half-Lives and the memoir When the World Breaks Open. Reza has led writing workshops within correctional facilities, military and civilian hospitals, and schools. She is the Executive Director of Community Building Art Works, a unique arts organization that encourages the use of the arts as a tool for narration, self-care, and socialization among a military population struggling with emotional and physical injuries.