Creative writing is a tool for knowing yourself, understanding the world, and connecting with other people. Led by author Seema Reza and accomplished guest writers—including poets, memoirists, novelists, and storytellers—these generative community workshops follow the model developed by Community Building Art Works (CBAW) over the course of a decade of bringing people together in military and hospital settings. Each workshop is designed to help participants put their personal stories on paper in a supportive environment.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been writing for years, you are welcome; no experience is required. Bring a pen, a notebook, and an open mind!

The Seasons Change Us: Calling to the Sun with author Hari Alluri

About This Workshop
The closing lines of Sanctificum by Chris Abani read: “They say you cannot say this in a poem. / That you cannot say love and mean anything. / That you cannot say soul and approach heaven. / But the sun is no fool, I tell you. / It will rise for nothing less.” In this Summer Solstice workshop we will look to poems that invoke the sun, ask ourselves what it means to be changed by the world around us, and write through the things we wish to change, towards the shifts within ourselves from which our writing connects back to the world.

Poet and editor Hari Alluri (he/him/siya) is author of The Flayed City (Kaya Press) and chapbook Our Echo of Sudden Mercy (NextPage Press). Recipient of the Vera Manuel Award for Poetry, among other awards, grants, fellowships, and residencies, siya is co-editor—with Seema Reza—of We Were Not Alone (Community Building Art Works) and co-founding editor at Locked Horn Press. With work that appears widely in print and online, his next collection is forthcoming from Brick Books in Spring 2025.

These Strathmore workshops are recorded (unless otherwise specified) and a link to the recorded version is available for registered participants only, upon request. The recorded version is edited for participant privacy and focuses on the instructor’s lessons. Our partners at Strathmore want these workshops to be as accessible as possible, so they are priced as “pay what you can.” You will be prompted to enter an amount of your choice when you register. (If you are registering for free, please enter $0.) If you are able to pay for these workshops, every dollar goes to support Strathmore’s education programs.

REGISTER HERE