IWL Summer Sessions provides an opportunity for students to work with experienced teaching artists in poetry and prose in two 4-week sessions during July and August. Applicants can apply for one or both sessions.
Individual Class: $250 | Both Classes: $400
Session 1: Poetry with Jaz Sufi
Class Times (ONLINE): Thursdays 7-9pm | July 10, 17, 24, 31
Course Description: In the spirit of Robert Hass's "A Little Book on Form," this is a class about the formal imagination in poetry. We'll explore a variety of different poetic forms and discuss strategies in approaching them, i.e. when to use which form for what effect. Imagine this class as a sampler plate: rather than focusing on any one form, we'll range from abecedarians to villanelles, broadening our own range as writers and readers. Each week we'll workshop each other's pieces, respond to generative writing prompts, and discuss work by writers such as Patricia Smith, Natalie Diaz, Tracy K. Smith, Taylor Byas, Terrance Hayes, and more.
Instructor Bio: Jaz Sufi (she/hers) is a queer Iranian-American poet and arts educator. Her work has been published or is upcoming in Best New Poets, Best of the Net, AGNI, Black Warrior Review, Muzzle, and elsewhere. She is a National Poetry Slam finalist and has received fellowships from Kundiman, the Watering Hole, and New York University, where she received her MFA. She is the current Poet Laureate of San Ramon, CA, where she lives with her dog, Apollo.
Session 2: Prose with Ploi Pirapokin
Class Times (ONLINE): Thursdays 6-8pm | August 7, 14, 21, 28
Course Description: Does a good story need conflict? Not all prose forms and structures rely on conflict to push our characters into action. What if conflict was reframed as tension, shifting from one moment to the next? A pattern of pleasure and dread? We’ll look at published fiction, nonfiction, and speculative fiction works as examples where a climactic confrontation is not forefronted, and what kinds of containers these forms and structures provide, along with their risks and rewards. We’ll ask ourselves how we can allow for change to occur in a story that doesn’t rely on the protagonist or persona having to overcome or learn from their actions. In four weeks, through writing exercises and conversation, participants will leave with sturdy, new pieces of writing, tools and tips for techniques surrounding voice, style, character, and an expanded understanding of plot, form, and structure.
Instructor Bio: Ploi Pirapokin is a Hong Kong raised, Thai Extraordinary Alien. She is featured in Tor.com, Pleiades, Ninth Letter, Sycamore Review, Gulf Stream Magazine, The Art and Craft of Stories from Asia: A Writer's Guide and Anthology, and Speculative Fiction: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology both from Bloomsbury Academic, and more. She has received grants and fellowships from the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Creative Capacity Fund, Headlands Center for the Arts, Djerassi, Kundiman and others. A graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop and the MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, she currently teaches at the Writers Program at UCLA Extension, WritingWorkshops.com, and as Core Faculty at Story Studio Chicago. She sits on the board for Khōréō magazine, Hivemind: Global Speculative Fiction Magazine, Kearny Street Workshop, the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, and the Ragdale Foundation.