There are still seats available in five writing workshops scheduled for the Lanier Library Poetry Festival Saturday, April 26. Conducted by noted poets – George Bilgere, Cathy Smith Bowers, Malaika King Albrecht, Rhett Iseman Trull, Phebe Davidson and Elizabeth Cox – these workshops take beginning and advanced writers from the blank page to publication.

Bilgere’s “Writing Your Way Into the Poem” will share with writers strategies and techniques for starting the writing process, revising poems and getting them into print. Writing experience is recommended for this workshop, which will include in-class writing exercises based on instructor’s prompts.

Bowers invites writers to explore imagery in her class, “The Abiding Image: An Invitation to Poetry.” This workshop is for those who want to turn their thoughts, experiences and emotions into poetry.

Literary publishers Albrecht and Trull team up to help writers with the whys, hows and wheres of the submission process in their workshop called “Join the Great Circle: Send Out That Work.” The class will show writers how submitting work places them in a community of writers and helps them be a part of an ongoing conversation about literature today.

Phebe Davidson’s “Where the Words Take You” will show experienced writers how not to over-think the writing process. A group exercise will ask attendees to construct a poem that depends on formal arrangement, then experiment with other poetic forms of the same material.

Elizabeth Cox’s workshop, “The Power of Image,” will focus on developing the art of imagery in expressing emotion, thereby implying more than a direct statement can. Participants are encouraged to bring to, or begin in class, a poem that makes use of a deep image.

Workshops are scheduled throughout the day, and require pre-registration. Space is limited. To download a registration form, see www.lanierlib.org, or visit the library during open hours.

– article submitted 

by Gina Malone