This workshop has been cancelled.
An ONLINE 5 Week Poetry Workshop
Thursdays, June 22-July 20
ALL LEVELS
We drift in and out of liminality throughout our lives; many of us occupy liminal, or threshold, spaces for the entire duration of our lives. Gloria Anzaldúa refers to the threshold—this transformative “unstable, unpredictable, precarious” state—as nepantla, “a Nahuatl word meaning tierra entre medio.”
In this workshop, we will explore the ways that we are all, at various points or perpetually, in the threshold. While acknowledging the disorientation and alienation often present in the threshold spaces we occupy, we will focus on the freedom, unique perspectives, and creative potential available there. With poetry as our medium, we’ll greet these aspects of our identities and experiences with generosity and affirmation—and give some serious side-eye to the socially-constructed binaries that make the threshold such a precarious place.
This five-week online workshop is open to poets at all levels who are prepared to co-construct and contribute to a space of wholehearted kindness and community. Poets will leave each weekly session with a new writing prompt. Accompanied by the poetry of queer, trans, and nonbinary Black, Brown, and Indigenous poets—Gloria Anzaldúa, Audre Lorde, Deborah Miranda, t’ai freedom ford, Maya Williams, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, Danez Smith, and more—participants are welcome to share their new drafts in our affirming community each week.
+ PLEASE NOTE This workshop will occur online via Zoom. Students do not need to create an account to participate, but should test out Zoom before their class if they are first-time users. The week of the workshop, students will be emailed a link that they may click to enter the test session and the class.
+ REQUIRED EQUIPMENT A reliable, fast internet connection (broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE), speakers & a microphone (built-in or USB plug-in), and a webcam (built-in or USB plug-in).
If you would like to quickly and easily test your internet connection and your computer’s compatibility with Zoom, click HERE. Full details on supported Operating Systems, internet browsers, and more can be found HERE. To download and familiarize yourself with Zoom, click HERE.
Ian-Khara Ellasante (they/them) is a Black, queer, trans-nonbinary parent, partner, poet, and cultural studies scholar. Ian-Khara’s poetry has been published in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, Pipe Wrench, The Feminist Wire, Nat. Brut, Hinchas de Poesía, The Volta, Writing the Land: Maine, and From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Writers Write the Northeast (forthcoming). Ian-Khara is a VONA alum whose awards and honors include the 2023 Cave Canem Fellowship, the New Millennium Award for Poetry, the Ashley Bryan Fellowship, and the Point Foundation Scholarship. Their critical writing, including the essay “Dear Trans Studies, Can You Do Love?,” has appeared in Transgender Studies Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Families in Society. Proudly hailing from Memphis, Ian-Khara has also loved living and writing in Tucson, Brooklyn, and most recently, in southern Maine, where they teach Gender and Sexuality Studies and Africana at Bates College.
ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via our website. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.
PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICIES
If you need to withdraw from a class after registering for any reason, please email or call the MWPA immediately. You may be eligible for a partial refund or credit, depending on how far in advance you cancel. → MORE INFORMATION
QUESTIONS
For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact Meghan Sterling at programs@mainewriters.org.
REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-228-8263 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.
$245 members / $450 Nonmembers
REGISTER BY MAIL
If you prefer to pay by mail, please print this registration form (downloadable PDF) and mail it to the MWPA with a check or credit card information.
SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer one partial scholarship to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Email Meghan at programs@mainewriters.org to see if a scholarship is still available. Application Due on June 1st at 9:00 a.m.
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MWPA WORKSHOP POLICIES
Registration in any MWPA workshop, program, or event constitutes your agreement to our terms and conditions. → MORE INFORMATION