A Quest for Innocence in a Troubled World

A Quest for Innocence in a Troubled World ($79)

This workshop brings to the poetic table three things: the inspiration to go on a quest; rediscovering a sense of innocence in language; and the overwhelming realities of today's troubled world. So, what does the poet have to say to the child, the adolescent, the newlyweds, the new parents, the people who just bought their first house and had their first baby? How do we re-discover language? Is childhood an innocent place? Is linguistic innocence desirable for a poet in the context of so much societal conflict?

Carmen Bugan's most recent books are the collection of poems Time Being (Shearsman, 2022), and the book of essays Poetry and the Language of Oppression: Essays on Politics and Poetics (Oxford University Press, 2021). Her prize-winning memoir, Burying the Typewriter: Childhood Under the Eye of the Secret Police (Picador, 2012), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and her new and selected poems, Lilies from America (Shearsman, 2019), was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She teaches literature and creative writing at New York University Abu Dhabi.