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Poetry Palooza Events The Series: $219 Members / $259 Nonmembers The series includes all events below at a discounted price! OR Register for individual workshops below: Prices vary by workshop |
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Kelsay Brooks Women's Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Kelsay Books in partnership with the International Women's Writing Guild
CONTEST DATES:
September 15 – November 31, 2021
Winners announced: January 2022
PRIZES:
- First Place: $500, feature in virtual reading, plus featured poet publication in The Orchards Poetry Journal June 2022 issue, a contributor copy of the print issue, no reading fee for one future manuscript submission to Kelsay Books.
- Second Place: $100, plus publication in The Orchards Poetry Journal, a contributor copy of the issue, no reading fee for one future manuscript submission to Kelsay Books.
- Two Honorable Mentions: Publication in The Orchards Poetry Journal, contributor copy of the issue, no reading fee for one future manuscript submission to Kelsay Books.
ENTRY FEE:
$15 for three poems (enter as many times as you wish)
A limited number of International Women’s Writing Guild entry fee scholarships are available for those financially unable to pay the fee; please contact kelsey@iwwg.com for eligibility information.
JUDGE:
Karen Craigo
Poetry Workshops
Poetry Manuscript Workshop *** Limited to 14 attendees. *** September 20, 27 and October 4, 2021 | This is a 3-session intensive course that will meet virtually once a week for 2 hours. Each class will consist of discussion from outside-of-class contemporary readings on mapping out the structure/organization from works including Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem, John Murillo’s Kontemoporary Amerikan Poetry, and Franny Choi’s Soft Science to name a few. We will discuss the various approaches to creating a manuscript, including the organically grown ones to the very structured and well-planned ones. And, of course, we will be looking closely at a set of your poems (5-10). We will use online tools such as WetInk or Google docs to share and give feedback on each other’s work. This course will be for anyone at any point in their manuscript process, whether they are just starting out or they have a complete manuscript. We will be taking into consideration audience, sequencing, filling in gaps, identifying weaker poems or poems that don’t seem to quite fit the overall arc of the manuscript. On our final session we will discuss next steps for your mss and where, when, and how to send out for publication. |
Tacey M. Atsitty, Diné, is Tsénahabiłnii (Sleep Rock People) and born for Ta’neeszahnii (Tangle People). Her maternal grandfather is Tábąąhí (Water Edge People) and her paternal grandfather is Hashk’áánhadzóhí (Yucca Fruit Strung-Out-In-A-Line People) from Cove, AZ.
She is a recipient of the Truman Capote Creative Writing Fellowship, the Corson-Browning Poetry Prize, Morning Star Creative Writing Award, and the Philip Freund Prize. She holds bachelor’s degrees from Brigham Young University and the Institute of American Indian Arts, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in POETRY Magazine, Kenyon Review Online, Prairie Schooner, Crazyhorse, Literary Hub, New Poets of Native Nations, and other publications. Her first book is Rain Scald (University of New Mexico Press, 2018).
She is the poetry judge for Eggtooth Editions chapbook contest, director of the Navajo Film Festival, a member of the Board of Directors for Lightscatter Press, a member of the Advisory Council for Brigham Young University’s Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, and member of the Advisory Board for the Intermountain All-Women Hoop Dance Competition. She is a PhD student in the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University.
She lives in Peru with her husband.
Be Your Own Publicist: Practical Strategies to Promote Your Book
Erika Dreifus October 12, 2021 | Whether you publish with a large or small press or self-publish, a finished poetry book is only one piece of the puzzle. Another important one—which begins before the book is released—is promoting it. A publisher may develop a marketing plan, but as the author, you still play a critical role in reaching readers. This class will provide an overview of the poetry book promotion process, highlighting efforts that you might reasonably expect your publisher to handle (or collaborate on), and offering strategies that you, the author, can tackle yourself, with an emphasis on low-cost, low-stress approaches. We'll also discuss the role of literary citizenship in this work. |
Erika Dreifus has assisted authors and publishers in promoting books released by companies large and small: HarperCollins, The Jewish Publication Society, University of Nevada Press, Orison Books, Palgrave Macmillan, Jewish Storyteller Press, Fig Tree Books, and more. She has also publicized her own books, including Quiet Americans: Stories (Last Light Studio) and, most recently, Birthright: Poems(Kelsay Books). Visit Erika online at www.ErikaDreifus.com, and/or follow her on Twitter (@ErikaDreifus), where she tweets on “matters bookish and/or Jewish.”
Wanderlust: Distance and Intimacy November 11, 2021 | Join us for a journey across geographical distances of land and sea, emotional ones between people, and the small and vast spaces on the page. We will explore how prose grows and shrinks distances to build worlds, to bring characters together and push them apart, and how it makes the reader experience familiarity and detachment in a visceral way. We’ll look at why some characters are irresistible and repelling. We’ll dive into the wreck with poetry and examine the boundaries in the line and the techniques that transcend boundaries. We’ll travel to unexpected places of intimacy and belonging of narrative poetry, and what makes a metaphor lustful. The workshop will include readings, discussion, and writing exercises. You will experiment with ways to create distance and intimacy, discovering surprising places in your own work. You will apply techniques used by the likes of Jesmyn Ward, Sharon Olds, Natalie Diaz, James Baldwin and others. Let us wander through nearness, farness and everything in between. |
Yun Wei received her MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College and studied at Georgetown University and London School of Economics. Her awards include the Geneva Literary Prizes and Himan Brown Poetry Fellowship. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Michigan Quarterly, Shenandoah, Summerset, Poetry Northwest, Wigleaf, Word Riot, along with many other journals. Her debut novel is represented by Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. She works in global health in Switzerland, where she relies on chocolate and tears to survive mountain sports. Find her at: thepomegranateway.blogspot.com/
As poetry becomes more accessible through video and audio platforms, how can we craft our words so they extend past the page? Using newly generated work or our oldies but goodies, we will explore how to enhance our own writing through choreography, persona, vocal intonation, and emotional expression. |
Aris Kian is a Houston enthusiast and a student of abolition. Her poems are published with The West Review, Pidgeonholes, Write About Now and elsewhere. She is a Pushcart nominee and a 2020 Best of the Net Finalist. She ranks #10 in the 2020 Women of the World Poetry Slam and pursues her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. She organizes with Mutual Aid Houston and is looking forward to receiving an honorary degree from Twitter University.
Free Poetry Events
OPEN MIC *** please register separately even if you purchased the Palooza series, so you can indicate "listen only", or "read and listen" for this event. October 3, 2021 |
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What is an open letter? An open letter is a letter, often critical, addressed to a particular person or group of people but intended to be widely distributed to a wider audience. The letter does not usually get a reply, but it is written to shed light on a subject, an individual, or a group as a form of protest or grievance. It can also be used for praising and honoring something or someone. IWWG Free Write attendees will read a selection of poetry with examples of the Open Letter. We will discuss various aspects of form, craft, and attention to figurative language used by the different poets in the packet, and finish with time to write an Open Letter poem from a selection of prompts provided by Kai. There will be time for sharing at the end. |
Kai Coggin is the author of four poetry collections, most recently MINING FOR STARDUST (FlowerSong Press 2021) and INCANDESCENT (Sibling Rivalry Press 2019). She is a queer woman of color who thinks Black Lives Matter, a teaching artist in poetry with the Arkansas Arts Council, and the host of the longest running consecutive weekly open mic series in the country—Wednesday Night Poetry. Recently awarded the 2021 Governor’s Arts Award and named “Best Poet in Arkansas” by the Arkansas Times, her fierce and powerful poetry has been nominated four times for The Pushcart Prize, as well as Bettering American Poetry 2015, and Best of the Net 2016 and 2018. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in POETRY, Cultural Weekly, SOLSTICE,Bellevue Literary Review, Entropy, SWWIM, Sinister Wisdom, Lavender Review, Luna Luna, Blue Heron Review, Tupelo Press, West Trestle Review, and elsewhere. Coggin is Associate Editor at The Rise Up Review. She lives with her wife and their two adorable dogs in the valley of a small mountain in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Credit/Refund Policy If you withdraw from a workshop or class:
Please note that notification of withdrawal must be processed via email iwwgquestions@iwwg.org. If IWWG must cancel a class for any reason, we will give you a full refund or, if you choose, a credit in the amount of your payment, to be used for any future class or event. Credits are valid for one year from date of issue. |
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