Gathering-of-Poets

Join Press 53 and Jacar Press for the Second Annual GATHERING OF POETS

a day-long series of workshops featuring:

Limited to 53 poets. Don't Miss Out. Register Now!

Choose two morning and two afternoon workshops

Continental Breakfast and Buffet Lunch provided

Faculty reading to end the day

After dinner join us for an open mic reading

Cost: $125 (includes admission to the evening open mic event)

Workshop space is limited to 53 poets. To reserve your space, register now.

Fred Chappell

Former NC

Poet Laureate

Cathy Smith Bowers

Current NC

Poet Laureate

Betty Adcock

Richard Krawiec

Joseph Bathanti

Lavonne J. Adams

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 8 AM - 5:15 PM

WITH A SPECIAL OPEN MIC EVENING, 7-9 PM

Held at The Community Arts Café, Fourth & Spruce, Winston-Salem, NC

SCHEDULE AND WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

Check-in & Continental Breakfast: 8 - 9 a.m.

First Morning Workshop Block: 9 - 10:15 a.m.

These workshops will be offered again during the

First Afternoon Workshop Block: 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.

Cathy Smith Bowers: Tension in Poetry (Limited to 20 poets)

One element that is crucial in any of the arts is the element of tension. This workshop will discuss ways we can create or enhance the tension in feeling, story, language, and line of our own poems. After registration, send one poem (optional) for workshop consideration to kevin@press53.com by March 24. Please note for which workshop the poem is intended. We cannot promise that every poem will be used.

Richard Krawiec: What’s my line? (Limited to 20 poets)

Poems are written in lines, not paragraphs. Those lines feature images which contain music, set the rhythm, and carry the meaning forward. We will examine the work of master poets to see how they use lines. Lines long and short, contained and enjambed, syncopated, orchestrated, and compressed. Then working in small groups, we will play with the lines in our own poems, revising, trying different approaches. We’ll share these with the class and look at the revision strategies we used. Bring 2 or 3 unfinished poems. If you don’t wish to use your own work, poems by other writers will be provided.

Joseph Bathanti: Turning Poems Into Fiction (Limited to 20 Poets)

This class is designed for poets experimenting with writing fiction, or who weave in and out of poetry and fiction regularly. Essentially, students will experiment with techniques of transforming their own poems into short stories. The class will examine how the traditionally compressed craft of poetry can be expanded to find the imbedded story suited to short or even longer fiction. Poems, because of their relatively short length, often rely on an image-charged summary, rather than a more detailed discursive narrative. Starting at the “occasion” of the poem, and the dramatic situation that engendered it, we’ll look at “seams” in various poems, and how those seams can be expanded, often ripped open, through extended narrative (plot, point of view, characterization, dialogue) to reveal the story in the fictive sense that has yet to be told without losing the musical language, compression, imagery, and rhythm of poetry. Bring a poem with you to this workshop.

Second Morning Workshop Block: 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.

These workshops will be offered again during the

Second Afternoon Workshop Block: 3:00 - 4:15 p.m.

Fred Chappell: Master Workshop (Limited to 20 Poets)

Betty Adcock: What Makes Poetry Different? (Limited to 20 Poets)

From prose, from talking, from communicating at work and home? Let's talk about poetry as another language, a language within our language, a language with a different kind of dictionary. We'll figure on the figurative, mess around with metaphor, line up the line breaks, make for the music, and fly. Send one poem to kevin@press53.com by March 24, which may or may not be used in workshop.

Lavonne Adams: Contemporary Confession (Limited to 20 Poets)

In the age of reality television, Twitter, and YouTube, do we have anything left to confess? This workshop will focus on the art and craft of contemporary confession, and examine how the genre has evolved since the ground-breaking work of Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, and their protégés. Participants are requested to submit one poem by March 24 kevin@press53.com.Please note for which workshop the poem is intended. As many participant poems as possible will be discussed during the session.

Other Important Times and Events

Lunch Break: 11:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Buffet lunch provided. Open Seating. Enjoy some poetic company!

Faculty Reading: 4:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Closing Remarks: 5:00 p.m.

Dinner on Your Own: 5:15-7 p.m.

Open Mic Reading: 7 - 9 p.m.

($5 cover, Free to Gathering of Poets Attendees.) Poets wishing to read must place his or her name in a bowl. Readers will be determined by a drawing at two different times during the evening. If the poet called is not present, another name will be drawn. Sixteen poets will be selected to read during this event. Each poet will have three minutes to read, and this will be strictly enforced to be fair to all poets.

Registration:

To register, visit the registration page (or register by phone at 336-770-5353)

Check box to select your desired workshops.

If workshop is full, you may check the "waitlist" box and you will be placed on the waitlist in the order you signed up.

Waitlists will be cleared if space becomes available.

Press 53 reserves the right to make last-minute changes due to cancelations by faculty. If a cancelation by faculty occurs, we will do our best to replace the workshop with an equally beneficial workshop, but no guarantees can be made.

To Register, click here.

Lodging: Need a hotel for your stay? We have a special rate secured of $79 per night with the Wingate by Wyndham, a short distance away, at 125 S. Main Street. Call 336-714-2800 and ask for the "Press 53 Rate."

Questions can be emailed to Kevin Watson at kevin@press53.com or by calling Kevin at 336-770-5353.

Click photos for bios