Bodily Feelings: Writing Poetry Using Affective Objects
We’re so excited for our November writing workshop in partnership with VERSe Ottawa for VERSefest! This workshop is open for all and is free, by donation or pay-what-you-can.
Date: November 13, 2021
(Length: 2 hours)
Facilitator: Sanchari Sur
Time: 2-4pm
Limit: 30 participants
To join you’ll need a computer, internet access and audio connection.
Closed captions will be available.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
This workshop intends to work with a physical object that one is emotionally/affectively attached to, and use that “affect” that object elicits within you, to write.
What is affect? What makes objects affective? How does the “affect” of an object (physically or otherwise) affect you? How does your attachment to the object “feel” within your body? What does this “feeling” from this object mean to you? How can you use affective objects effectively to write poetry?
These are some questions this workshop will explore. Through writing prompts and free-writing exercises, participants will be encouraged to write poetry using their affective objects, with a particular focus on the body and intersectionality.
Prep:
Participants are encouraged to have already chosen an object that is personal to them. For example, photograph, coins, a piece of jewelry, toy, mug, etc.; basically any physical object that elicits a vivid memory and strong feelings.
To join us, please:
1) Register by donation or pay what you can. This event is for everyone!
OR
2) Register here if funds are a barrier or if you're paying by e-transfer! If you don’t have a credit card and want to donate or pay what you can, you can send us an e-transfer after registering at: inourtongues@gmail.com.
**Previously registered but can’t find the Zoom link? Simply access the zoom link to join us.
ABOUT VERSEFEST
VERSeFest is Ottawa’s annual International Festival of Poetry. Built on a mandate of fostering creative crossroads and community, we feature English and French poetry of all traditions, styles, and forms. Since 2011, we have showcased the best local, Canadian, and international poets performing in both spoken and written word genres. As one of Canada’s largest and most successful poetry festivals, our stages have featured readings by Griffin, Governor General, and Pulitzer Prize winners.
VERSeFest is curated and organized by a planning committee comprised of a collective of local poetic organizations and reading series under the guidance of the festival’s artistic director.
our workshop facilitator
sanchari sur
Sanchari Sur (she/they) is a PhD candidate in English at Wilfrid Laurier University. Their work can be found in Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, Toronto Book Award shortlisted The Unpublished City (Bookhug, 2017), Joyland, Daily Xtra, Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s The Margins, Ploughshares, Arc Poetry Magazine, Quill & Quire, and elsewhere. They are a recipient of a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellowship in fiction, a 2019 Banff residency (with Electric Literature), and Arc Poetry Magazine’s 2020 Critics’ Desk Award for a Feature Review. Sanchari co-edited Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to Climate Change (Coach House Books, 2020), and is featured in In/Appropriate: Interviews with Canadian Authors on the Writing of Difference (Gordon Hill Press, 2020).