Writers of Color

THIS CLASS HAS TRANSITIONED TO AN ONLINE FORMAT DUE TO CORONAVIRUS

INSTRUCTOR: JULIA BROWN

TIME: Six Tuesdays, April 7th, April 14th, April 21st, April 28th, SKIP May 5th for Writefest, May 12th, May 19th, 6-9 PM

PRICE: Early-Bird until Thursday, April 2nd: $210 members, $240 non-members. After Thursday, April 2nd: $240 members, $270 non-members. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.

LOCATION: ONLINE via Zoom

LEVEL: All Levels

CAP: Limited to 12 Writers

We recognize that while no single feature can capture the experience and identity of a human being, writers of color—of all levels, genres, and backgrounds—have the opportunity to thrive in workshop experiences where their many, varied voices are welcomed and seen to enrich the workshop’s diverse worldview. This means that we will read the work of poets and fiction writers of color, including our own.

Over the last few decades, organizations designed to support and promote the work of writers of color have emerged across the country. Cave Canem, Kundiman, Canto Mundo, VONA, Kimbilio, and others recognize the need to provide writers of color with the kind of community and workshop space that encourages taking risks, resisting stereotypes (in ourselves, others, and in our writing), and creating poems, stories, novels, memoirs, and essays that speak to the range of our experience as human beings. This workshop shares these intentions and seeks to provide Houston writers of color with the freedom and support offered by these organizations.

This workshop is open to writers of all backgrounds typically underrepresented in American literature, including but not limited to writers who identify themselves as African American or Caribbean, Asian American, Middle Eastern, Chicano, Hispanic, and Latino. For those worried that this will be a group therapy session, know that it will not be this. Just as with any writing workshop, we will study the craft of prose and poetry, whether literary fiction or slam or sci-fi, consider the intention of the work, and explore what possibilities it can open up for our writing. 

Expect to come away with fierce new work, as well as a renewed sense of power found through community.