Poemics

Poemics: An Iowa Youth Writing Project Language Arts Workshop

Age groups: Junior High and High School students
Saturdays, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
4 sessions: September 10, September 17, September 24, October 1
Locations: Coralville, North Liberty, and Iowa City Public Libraries
(4 workshops in 3 locations; same dates/times at each location)

This free program fuses poetry with comics, university with community, and youth with writing and reading. Participants will use the comic-strip form as an unexpected tool for “close reading” of classic poems and unlocking their own potential as writers. Rather than rushing to try to summarize what a poem is “about” (which is the test-taking mentality that often scares readers away from poetry), we’ll explore the specifics of what makes poetry wild and wondrous, letting poems keep their madness and mystery while gaining some insight into how the language of poetry moves (and moves us). By the end of the workshop, we’ll have created our own “poemics” or “poem-strips,” poem/comic hybrids that will be published in book form and shared at a reception for family, friends, and the community during the “Comics, Creativity, and Culture: Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives” symposium at the University of Iowa. The reception will take place at 6 pm on Sunday, October 9 at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Enrollment is limited, so sign up now!  Although scheduling conflicts occur, please plan to attend all four workshop dates if you register. Got questions?  Email theteam@iywp.org or call us at 319-804-9979.

—IYWP thanks University of Iowa Arts Share and the Public Libraries for making “Poemics” a reality—