A poetry writing workshop on how to use poetry as a tool for healing through trauma, and on finding and uncovering joy in your writing.
Starts on Saturday, October 28 · 11am
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
681 Venice Blvd Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
Throughout this workshop, we will explore how writing poetry about joy is used as a tool for healing. Participants will learn how other poets over time have experienced and explored joy in their writing. We will read and listen to poems and discuss how joy shows up in poetry, from the small joys in everyday life to healing through trauma. We will specifically explore the work of Toi Derricotte, her usage of “joy as an act of resistance,” and how we can use our writing to explore and experience more deeply the small moments of joy in our daily lives. We will also explore how to lean into writing when healing through pain, trauma, and grief, and ultimately, finding joy in the midst of it all. Participants will experience the poetry of contemporary poets, receive writing prompts, be offered time and space to write, and then receive the invitation to share with others.
About the facilitator
Barbara Fant has been writing and performing for more than 15 years. She competed in nine National Poetry Slam competitions, and she is a World Poetry Slam finalist. She is the author of two poetry collections, Paint, Inside Out (2010) and Mouths of Garden (2022). Her work has been featured in the Academy of American Poets, Electric Literature, McNeese Review, The Ohio State University Press, Button Poetry, and Def Poetry Jam, among other publications. She has received residencies in Havana, Cuba, and Senegal, West Africa. For more than 12 years, she had led healing- informed poetry workshops for both youth and adults who are incarcerated, those in community, adults in recovery, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. She is certified as a Healing Centered Engagement specialist and holds both an MFA in Poetry and a Masters inTheology. She is the founder of the Black Women Rise Poetry Collective and cofounder of The Senghor Project, West African International Artist Residency, as well as cofounder of We THRIVE Healing and Arts Collective.
One scholarship will be awarded to a QTPOC/BIPOC L.A.-residing individual who would like to join but does not have the means to do so. Please email us if interested at info@beyondbaroque.org.
Workshop attendees are expected to participate in a respectful, constructive, and considerate manner. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our workshops, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow participants, or facilitator.
