Free Poetry Workshop

Here's something you don't see every day in the Wyoming Valley. Wilkes University is hosting a free poetry writing workshop. And they have chosen a very fine poet to teach it.

Tim Seibles, a nominee for the National Book Award in 2012, will be presenting in the Kirby Hall Salon from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Mr. Seibles has published in a number of the best literary journals and is a professor of creative writing at Old Dominion University.

You can read a few of his poems using the Amazon "look inside" feature here: http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Animal-Tim-Seibles/dp/0983294429/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1/175-3373085-2599231

Even more interesting, his book was published by the Etruscan Press which is a part of the Wilkes Creative Writing Department. According to the Times Leader, three Etruscan Press publications have been finalists for the National Book Award.

So think of spending your Valentine's Day afternoon thinking about poetry! 

What We Do

We are a critique group. We begin each session with a list of successes and news. If members have something to share about projects completed, sold or published, we do it here.

Then the critique part of the evening starts. The usual plan is for each member to bring five double-spaced pages for critique. The member brings enough copies to pass around so that the other members can make notes as they read.

That's what we usually do. And at this week's meeting, two members did just that. But we are a flexible group. One of us read an outline for her newest children's book about the Pennsylvania State Nittany Lion and we gave her suggestions on how she might improve the story line. One of us read a set of puzzles for possible submission to children's magazines and we gave feedback on those and gave her ideas about possible markets. Another member read a brainstormed list of possible children's book projects and the other members commented on those ideas and whether the projects were worth pursuing.



So basically what we do is support each other in our writing goals. It's a format that works.

Photos copyright Susan Denney. Members pictured are Denise Kaminsky, Jack Dunn, Glenda Race and Tom Mooney.