Writing Poetry About Grief, Spring 2014:
A 6 week workshop on writing poetry about grief with Jacob Scheier. We will read and discuss contemporary elegies (poems of mourning) and craft our own.The workshop is intended for aspiring writers and professional writers — essentially anyone would is interested in giving their experiences of grief and loss poetic expression. Participants will learn about the nature of the elegiac form, as well as how to utilize literary devices and techniques to make our experiences of grief and loss speak to others. Grief, in this context, is not limited to death, but any kind of loss, including, but not restricted to: divorce and separation, the loss of a part of someone or oneself through illness or loss of a wider scale (e.g. ecological loss).
The cost of this workshop is $150/per participant. Materials provided.
Time and Place: Wednesdays, May 7-June 11, 6:30-9 pm. 25 Maitland Street, Toronto (1 block south of Wellesley St. and 1 block east of Yonge St).
About me:
I won a 2008 Governor General’s Award for poetry for my first book, More to Keep us Warm (ECW Press). My follow up collection, Letter from Brooklyn (ECW Press), was published last spring. I am also a volunteer peer-facilitator of support groups with Bereaved Families of Ontario since 2008 and I have been facilitating workshops on writing about grief for over three years. I have facilitated these workshops through Ryerson’s School of Continuing Education, at the Centre of Social Innovation, at the Bereavement Ontario Network’s Annual Conference and on the Walpole Island First Nations Reserve.
“Jacob creates a class atmosphere that is safe, supportive, and truly creative, and this has given all of us the freedom to write very moving and powerful pieces around the subjects of grief and loss.” – Dianne Moore, former student.
To register or for further information, please contact me at [email protected] or call 416-949-6003.