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 Mission Belonging 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, June 18 | 7pm Eastern Time
What at Least You've Called a God: Writing As/Through Belief with Matthew Buxton
The Poet has always acted as an intermediary between human and divine: Homer invoking the muses to speak through him; William Blake's visions of angels and prophets; George Herbert's employment as "God's Secretary." But what does this look like in a world where poets are called to write past mysticism? In this workshop, we will explore how contemporary poets write through belief rather than simply from it. Using poems such as Carl Phillips’s “Neon,” we will examine how writers engage the language of myth, divinity, and spiritual authority while also questioning, destabilizing, or reimagining it. How can poetry hold both reverence and skepticism? How can the sacred persist inside disillusionment?
Matthew Buxton is a queer writer originally from Salt Lake City. His work appears or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Chicago Review, swamp pink, New Delta Review, Bat City Review, Rhino Poetry, Tupelo Press, The Spectacle, & Change, Court Green, Frozen Sea, which nominated him for a Pushcart Prize, and others. He holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan, and his work has been recognized by the Fine Arts Work Center and the Vermont Studio Center. He now lives and teaches in Chicago.
Instagram: matthew_buxton | website: matthewbuxton.com
Thu, July 16 | 7pm Eastern Time
Beholding: Writing Poetry About What We're Drawn To with Christina Olivares
Poets witness and then transform what they witness in writing. Beholding, a kind of witnessing, draws attention to what is remarkable or adored. In this generative workshop, we'll experiment with two approaches to writing what we behold—through odes and ekphrasis—to draw ourselves close to what draws us in.
Christina Olivares is the author of Future Botanic (Get Fresh Books) and No Map of the Earth Includes Stars (winner of the Marsh Hawk Press Book Prize). Her recent work has been published by the Academy of American Poets, BOMB Magazine, and Lambda Literary and shown at Lincoln Center: Working Intersections. Olivares earned a PhD from Teachers College at Columbia University. Her research explores how identity, self-actualization, and freedom in the now can be expressed through writing and imagining.
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Thu, August 20 | 7pm Eastern Time
Text + Graphics: The Haiga with Aaron Caycedo-Kimura
In this workshop, we will examine the Japanese haiga as a form of graphic literature, emphasizing the fundamental principle of text and graphics interdependence. We will spend time looking at examples, refreshing our understanding of the haiku, and ending with an exercise to help you create a contemporary cartoon haiga of your own. No drawing experience necessary.
List of materials: pencil, eraser, fine or medium point marker (black), drawing paper or copy paper.
Aaron Caycedo-Kimura is a writer, visual artist, and educator. He is the author of two poetry books: the full-length collection Common Grace (Beacon Press, 2022) and Ubasute, winner of the 2020 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Competition. He is also the author and illustrator of the nonfiction book Text, Don’t Call: An Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life (TarcherPerigee, 2017). His honors include a MacDowell Stanford Calderwood Fellowship, a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship in Poetry, a Connecticut Office of the Arts Artist Fellowship Award, and a St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award in Literature. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous anthologies and journals, including Beloit Poetry Journal, RHINO, The Cincinnati Review, Consequence, Shenandoah, Gordon Square Review, Cave Wall, and elsewhere. Caycedo-Kimura earned his MFA from Boston University and teaches creative writing at Trinity College and University of Hartford.
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 Mission Belonging (formerly Community Building Art Works or CBAW), 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.