Registration required:
Online, 2 sessions / $125
Registration Begins Soon
We’re in the midst of a cultural and political meltdown, characterized by warfare, rampant racism, casual violence, and widespread mental fatigue. How do we write about difficult things when we’re so tired of being pummeled by both information and misinformation?
In this masterclass-style generative seminar, acclaimed poet Patricia Smith will lecture, lead readings of poets who have tackled political and social issues, including A.E. Stallings, A. Van Jordan, Brian Turner, Sharon Olds, and Amaud Jamal Johnson, and discuss strategies for addressing oneself to the political and social moment through poetry.
Class modality: Online synchronous (real-time attendance required)
Class size: 8 to 25 students
Required textbooks: No
Recorded: Yes
In-class & prompted writing: Yes
Workshopping & feedback: No
Patricia Smith is the 2021 recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement, presented by the Poetry Foundation, and a 2022 inductee of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. A member of the creative writing faculty at Princeton Unviersity, she is the author of nine acclaimed books of poetry, including Unshuttered; Incendiary Art, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the 2018 NAACP Image Award, and finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; and Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist.
A limited number of need-based scholarships are available to cover the enrollment costs of Poetry Society classes. To receive and fill out a scholarship survey, email parker@poetrysociety.org.
