Class Description
As Cathy Park Hong points out in her 2014 essay, "Delusions of Whiteness and the Avant-Garde," to encounter the history of avant-garde poetry, as it is usually told, "is to encounter a racist tradition." In this six-week seminar, we will attempt to sketch an anti-racist history of experimental writing and performance that centers BIPOC writers: you, me, and everybody who's ever been the only non-white writer in the room.
Each class, after a short warm-up writing prompt, we will engage with texts by writers such as M. NourbeSe Philip, Evie Shockley, Amiri Baraka, Wanda Coleman, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Patrick Chamoiseau, John Yau, George Abraham, and Krysten Hill. (We'll also, potentially, be engaging with performances by writers such as Norman Pritchard, Patricia Smith, Franny Choi, and Rachel McKibbens. Part of the way in which segregation happens in poetry is through the denigration and devaluing of the oral performance of poetry.) We'll think together about how to use what we learn and collaborate to create a writing prompt based on our discussion. Then we'll workshop the poems generated by the previous week's prompt.
Please note: Class does not meet Thursday, 7/31.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
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 detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.