Upcoming Workshops: Object Study & Dream Reportage

Full details have been posted regarding the two workshops I’ll be conducting as part of my residency at Historic Joy Kogawa House. The cost for each workshop is $15 CAN (or FREE for members of Kogawa House’s writing community) and, since these workshops will be conducted online, anyone anywhere can join.

The dates for Object Study are January 17 and February 7. The dates for Dream Reportage are January 31 and February 21. Each session is 75 minutes and will begin at 12.00 noon Pacific Standard Time.

The images accompanying all promotional materials for the workshops (the image above and the thumbnail image for this news post) come courtesy of the amazing Mexican-Canadian artist Laura Barrón. You can find much more of her work at: laurabarron.ca

Object Study

This writing workshop series asks each participant to select two objects which hold for them a special allure or significance. The first object is something in the participant’s possession, an item to which they have access—an item they can visit, see, and touch at their leisure. It may be an heirloom, a tool, a memento, a photograph, a book, or piece of furniture. The second is an object not in the participant’s possession, an item to which they do not have access, or to which they have only shared access. It may be something public or environmental, such as statuary or a bridge; it may be something lost or distant, destroyed, or fragmented, such as the Berlin Wall, or a beloved piece of jewelry that fell overboard during a sea voyage; it may be fictional or mythical, such as Excalibur.

Each participant will develop a short piece of writing on one object in each category, describing the object in close objective or sculptural detail and, only gradually, working toward a description of their subjective value. This exercise mirrors the drawing of still-lifes. It is also linked to the ancient Greek tradition of ekphrastic poetry, in which the poetic is cultivated from vivid description. Iconoclastic nouvelle vague filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard once claimed that the best film review is just a description, with the implication, we might assume, that if a writer simply works to describe something as accurately as possible, their unique point of view will inevitably emerge. This program will activate one’s observational skills in the interest of memory, analysis, extrapolation, and imagination. The pieces will be short, so this will also serve as an opportunity to exercise compaction.

Dream Reportage

This writing workshop series asks participants to use dreams as raw material for the crafting of poetry or prose that interrogates the unconscious as a way of excavating personal histories, hopes and anxieties. Because this process inevitably involves extrapolation, it offers participants a method through which to balance found material and reportage with narrative development and imagination.

In the first session, the ideas behind the exercise and varied significance for writers of different disciplines and levels of experience will be discussed. Each participant will be invited to share the ways in which dreams typically have (or have not) informed their life and work. (Those who haven’t found any inspiration in dreams previously are welcome!) We will explore various techniques for the remembering, recording, and analyzing of dreams, as well as techniques for expanding upon even vague impressions in the writing process.

The second session will be open for sharing work, discussing both process and results and considering ways in which these processes and results might inform future work. This program will activate one’s capacity for recall, analysis, extrapolation, and imagination. While the exercise encourages the development of narrative, the pieces will be short, so this will also serve as an opportunity to exercise compaction.

You can read more, and sign up for the workshops, at the Kogawa House website.