Hello, my fellow writers in the Treasure Valley!
I am excited to share these workshop opportunities with you:
Death Rattle Writers Festival, a local non profit literary arts organization, will be hosting four 1-hour workshops on March 7th, three of the workshops hosted at the Nampa Public Library and the last workshop at the Nampa Flying M Coffeehouse Garage. There will be classes on Poetry, Fiction, Comics, and Editing your work. All workshops are free to the public, beginners and intermediate writers encouraged to participate.
Below are the times and each workshop description:
Saturday, March 7 | Free Noon - 1pm Editing and Peer Poetry Review with Diana Forgione 1:15pm - 2:15pm Poetry: Volta with CL Young 2:30pm - 3:30pm Fiction: Romance with Evelyn Henry @ Nampa Public Library 4:00pm - 5:30pm Comics with Vannotes @ Flying M Coffee Nampa
Review: Poetry Workshopping
*𝘓𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝟷𝟶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴*
A traditional-ish poetry workshop starting at Four Words and then continuing TBA weekly late spring. Make friends and read their poems, get constructive feedback and discussion of your work.
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴:
*Bring 10 printed copies of the poem or short prose you've been working on*
Each student will get a chance to share aloud their work while other students are welcome to write thoughts, impressions, and insight into the work on their copy of the piece! Round table discussion moderated by the instructor Diana Forgione and the class to follow each piece.
Open to writers of all experience levels, the aim of these workshops will be to develop and build a mutually constructive vocabulary around poetry, enjoy, uplift, and discover each other's work as friends and fellows in the community.
*Sign up for a spot by emailing dianaforgione@deathrattlewritersfest.org*
About the Instructor: Diana Forgione, MFA Creative Writing and BFA in Film Theory, is a non binary writer and workshop facilitator in the Northwest region. Diana uses poetry to examine the underlying nature of humanity as it’s experienced; attempting to discern the essence of love, suffering, lust and queerness. They are the Co-Founder of Death Rattle Writers Festival, Head Editor for OROBORO, andjudge and workshop Instructor for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Their work can be found Reality Beach among other places.
Poetry: VOLTA w/ CL Young
When constructing a sonnet, the word “volta” points to a turn or change of thought that occurs near the end of the poem. It’s the moment that transforms the poem from an arrangement of text into something alive, something that acts. I once had a teacher who said a good poem is one you can go to when you’re having a certain feeling and know that poem will reflect the feeling you’re having; but a great poem is one that changes the feeling. A great poem is one you can come to feeling one way and by the time you’ve left it, what was rattling around within you has been changed. In this workshop, we won’t be writing sonnets, but we will consider the importance of the idea of the volta—that every poem worth its salt might attempt to bring about a turn in the reader.
About the Instructor: CL Young writes poems and essays. She holds an MFA in poetry from Colorado State University and lives in Boise, Idaho where she runs a reading & workshop series called Sema.
__
Fiction: Romance with Evelyn Henry
Interested in cutting your teeth writing Romance? Attend this 45-60 minute class and learn some fundamental techniques and skills for structuring short or long romance as well as some advice on overcoming writers block and getting words down on the page.
About the Instructor: Evelyn Henry spent 4 years writing romance novels and wrote over 60 erotic shorts between 2011 and 2015. She studied Creative Writing at College of Idaho and Southern New Hampshire University. She’s currently working for Mozilla as a Tech Support Representative.
__
Following this class we will take a short intermission and head over to the Flying M Coffee Nampa for refreshments and re-convene at the Flying M Coffee Garage Mezzanine for Comix workshop!
__
Writing Comics: Adapting Written Word to Sequential Art
How do you start a comic? For many, the beginning is the written word. In this workshop, you will learn how to adapt comics from prose, poetry, as well as traditional comic scripts. Not just for writers, this workshop will help visuals artists looking to tell their own stories. No pre-written scripts or prose needed beforehand.
About the Instructor: Vannotes is a cartoonist and illustrator based out of Idaho. They have self-published many publications and worked for clients as diverse as Scholastic, Boom! Studios, King Features Syndicate, and ZEAL. In 2016, they received their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Comic Art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In their spare time, they try to read a book a week, irregularly attend yoga classes, and worked with local political campaigns.
For any questions please contact Diana Forgione, Director, dianaforgione@deathrattlewritersfest.org