The Southern Oregon Guild invites you to come experiment with us and explore your own creativity in the fourth annual “Let’s Write – A Different Kind of Writing Experience” on Saturday, May 21, 2022.
This time, it’s in person! “Let’s Write” will be facilitated by professional writers who provide the time, space, and inspiration for you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and take creative risks.
The day begins with a keynote address from Amy Miller, followed by 3 sessions of writing workshops,with a choice of two different workshops during each session. This year presenters include Eliot Feenstra, Miles Frode, Laura Mancuso, Amy Miller, H. Ní Aódagaín, and Kokayi Nosakhere! The writers will both inform and be catalysts, providing inspiration to support you in creating your own fresh writing during the session.
And for those ready to share their work, “Let’s Write” will conclude with an Open Mic/Happy Hour.
Fees are on a sliding scale from $35 to $55. Student fee is $20. Registration is available now at
https://southernoregonguild.org/events/educational-inspiration/143-let-s-write.html
Schedule of the Day
9:00am – 9:30am Breakfast / Welcome and Introductions
9:30am – 9:55am Keynote – Amy Miller
10:00am – 11:30am Workshop #1 – Choice of 2: News Writing with LAURA MANCUSO orPoetry with ELIOT FEENSTRA
11:30am – 12:15pm Lunch Break
12:15pm – 1:45pm Workshop #2 – Choice of 2: Poetry with AMY MILLER or Nonfiction with KOKAYI NOSAKHERE
1:45pm – 2:00pm Afternoon Cookie Break
2:00pm – 3:30om Workshop #3 – Choice of 2: Prose with H. NI AODAGAIN or Poetry with MILES FRODE
3:45pm – 5:00pm Open Mic (light snacks and wine tasting provided)
Scroll down for descriptions. For updates for the event, join the event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/444375277087270/
Mosaic Land: Using Postcards to Write Poems of Place
Amy Miller
In this generative workshop, we’ll use visual postcard prompts to write deeply, but in very short poems, about places that have meaning to us. We’ll also explore the nature of postcard writing—the personal vs. the descriptive—and how writing a series of short poems can explore large topics from unusual angles, resulting in a sequence of poems that may come together to reveal more than the sum of its parts.
Amy Miller’s latest books are Astronauts, which won the Chad Walsh Chapbook Prize, and The Trouble with New England Girls, which won the Louis Award from Concrete Wolf Press. A recipient of an Oregon Literary Fellowship, she lives in Ashland.
From Harry Potter to Hannibal Lector: The Importance of Character Building in your Story or Memoir
H. Ní Aódagaín
Believable characters are at the heart of any good story or memoir. We will explore techniques that can help the writer build interesting, complex, and believable characters who move your story along and engage the reader. The class will be a mixture of reading examples, short exercises, writing time and feedback.
H. Ní Aódagaín is a poet, essayist and novelist, whose work has appeared in Autostraddle, Eureka Literary Magazine, Leaping Clear, Oregon Quarterly, and Sinister Wisdom. Her novel, If Not for the Silence, was named finalist for the 2020 Hidden River Arts Eulidia Writing Award.
News writing 101
Laura Mancuso
Learn the basics and more about how to write a newspaper article using Associated Press (AP) Style.
AP Style of writing has its own set of rules and creativity … inverted pyramid, nonbiased facts, word count, headlines and much more. Laura will share her skill set and teach participants how to write an article that could be published in a newspaper.
Laura Mancuso has been a reporter and copy editor for the Illinois Valley News for 10 years and is currently the managing editor. Her passion is keeping small-town local newspapers thriving.
Capturing “Voice”: Translating Experiences Through History and Journalism
Kokayi Nosakhere
Using a primary historical documents – newspapers, booklets, poetry – from African American history, learn how to communicate the voice and style of yesterday in terms readers can appreciate today. Avoid the common mistakes of cultural appropriation and colonialism.
Four years ago, author, community builder and Black cultural expert, Kokayi Nosakhere relocated to Southern Oregon. In 2019, he attended the 12th Annual Beloved Music Festival. Since then, he has focused his energies on building a BIPoC Sanctuary.
Another Way In
Miles Frode
Utilizing original and creative prompts (such as his Rhyme-list, Lens’ing, and ‘Harvest’ techniques) Miles seeks to stay in the play while working to “use the one he started with to build a thousand nets” reminding us we can catch the poem we are in the midst of and pin it to the page, even if only by the toe.”
Born and raised by artist/teachers, Miles has followed the Art/play of Poetry, using process to learn and recognize whats powerful and important. Miles aka ‘Wind Lung’ is a Hip-Hop artist, Teacher and Visual Artist/designer and Poet.
Listening to Place: The Neighborhood Poetry Project
Eliot Feenstra
The Neighborhood Poetry Project emerges from the belief that all places deserve art and culture that reflect and celebrate their specificity. Often narratives of places emerge in service to tourism, development, or imminent threat. How can the process of writing poetry open up alternative ways of being in conversation with the places we inhabit, in the context of ongoing settler-colonialism? In this workshop, participants will create new work grounded in deep listening.
Eliot Feenstra (he/they) is an organizer, artist, teacher, and gardener from Pittsburgh who lives and works in the Illinois Valley. His work uses community-based arts and dialogue to lift up radical and queer histories, reckon with inheritance, and explore humans’ relationships to place.
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