Writing Transversal Poetry: A Bilingual Workshop

With a lineage that includes Arthur Rimbaud, Aimée Césaire, Pedro Pietri, and Edouard Glissant, Uraoyán Noel's "Transversal" (University of Arizona Press, 2021) charts a course that gives poets from marginalized language communities a way to engage the English language on our own terms. Inspired by this example, we will engage in experimental exercises, creating poems with parallel language-tracks and diagonal lines of reading; forms with the capacity to mis/translate, thus creating meaning that's only found, not lost, in translation.

This workshop is for poets who come from any language-community that struggles with the influence of internalized white supremacy. Here, we will center the poet's experience and give ourselves the authority to speak with our own voices "in this great universe without fear or doubts...," as Pietri wrote, "that's what the dream is about!

Class Format

This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!

Scholarship Information

Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.

For more more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.