The IWC is happy to feature Lydia Johnson in conversation about her writing life and her upcoming course with us, “Begin Again: A Poetry Revision Workshop.”
Dates: 3 Wednesdays: May 1, 8, 15
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm EST
Location: Zoom
Cost: $175 Nonmembers, $121 Writer/Reader Members, $109 Senior, Teacher, Student, Military/Veteran, Librarian Members
*The cost of this class includes a $25 critiquing fee that is directly remitted to the instructor.
About the Class
Most of us have poems that aren’t quite “there” yet. Odds are, you’re saving them for an opportunity to spruce up when you have time. These interactive poetry revision workshops are the perfect opportunity to turn your beloved outcasts into excellent poems.
We’ll open up our Word docs of discarded drafts to re-enter the mindsets, moods, and melodies that created them.
Learn revision exercises that teach you how to find the heart of your poems or refashion them into new shapes. Workshop poem drafts, get feedback from other poets about what works, and guidance on your revision journey.
Participants should bring one poem 1-2 pages in length, in a format that’s easy to revise during class sessions. Poets of all experience levels are welcome.
Talking with Lydia
Lydia Johnson is a poet and writer from Gary, Indiana. Her writing has been published in BLACKBERRY: a magazine, Glamour Magazine, Kiwanis Magazine and the books Women in Clothes, Writers Resist: Hoosier Writers Unite, and Belt Magazine’s The Gary Anthology. She received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Butler University and lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has taught poetry workshops and led book discussions for the Indiana Writers Center, Indiana Humanities, and other local nonprofits. She volunteers as an Editorial Assistant for The Indianapolis Review and serves as a judge for various writing contests geared toward young writers.
What writing accomplishment are you most proud of?
What writing accomplishment are you most proud of? I am proud that I’ve been able to work as a poet, freelance writer, and poetry instructor. I don’t take it for granted!
What is your personal motto, or something like a proverb that you live by (writing related or not)?
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
What’s the best thing students can take away from this class?
Students will take away tools from this class that will help them bring life back into poems they’d given up on!
What’s your favorite thing about the IWC?
My favorite thing about the IWC is that writers of all levels and interests can find a class and a welcoming community to practice and refine their craft.
What are some of your favorite books on writing craft?
In the Palm of Your Hand by Steve Kowit and A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver