Workshop Descriptions & Instructors

Faith Adiele
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy Barry
Timothy Bascom
Linda Bendorf
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond
Michael Dennis Browne
Susan Taylor Chehak
John Dalton
Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Katie Ford
Patricia Foster
Laura Fraser
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Kevin González
John Griesemer
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Bret Anthony Johnston
Daniel Khalastchi
Zachary Lazar
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Katherine Min
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Leslie Schwartz
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Ashley Warlick
Jan Weissmiller
Bart Yates

Daniel Khalastchi

Reading As A Poet
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

Beginner’s Luck: A Poetry Workshop
One-Week Workshop
July 20–25

Biography

Reading As A Poet
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

Good poets are good readers. They dive into the deep, dark pool of a poem, and only come up for air when they have to. They stay in it; they study the lines, the music, the arrangement of images, and once they think they understand what they’ve read, they dive in again. During this class, our goal will be to strengthen our ability as writers by re-examining how/why we read poetry. Through careful analysis and discussion of various poems and critical essays, we will learn to recognize what James Wright called “the crucial importance of the relation between craft and the imagination.” There will be in-class exercises and an opportunity to share work at the end of the weekend. I will provide reading materials.

Beginner’s Luck: A Poetry Workshop
One-Week Workshop
July 20–25

I usually lose at poker. Part of this is because I'm no good with numbers. The other part is because it’s scary to take risks; it’s much easier to bet on a sure thing, and avoid the patience it takes to sit and study the game. While gambling and poetry have their obvious differences, the same fears/reservations that can keep one away from casinos can also limit us severely as writers. By worrying too much about readers, style, or if/how poems reflect back on us as creators, we (as beginning poets) may prevent ourselves from exploring all the avenues the blank page has to offer. In this workshop, we will expand our poetic abilities by betting it all on gut feeling. Through close analysis of poems by James Wright, John Berryman, Gertrude Stein, and Emily Dickinson (among others) we will examine what it means to successfully take chances on the page (emotional, thematic, formal)—and work on implementing those ideas in our own writing via in-class exercises and workshop. Although this class is geared toward beginners, any poet interested in generating work that pushes them in new directions is strongly encouraged to join us.

Biography
Daniel Khalastchi (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop) has taught Poetry and Creative Writing at The University of Iowa, and College Writing/Dimensions of Literature at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he is currently an associate professor of English. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Denver Quarterly, Court Green, Octopus Magazine, The New Hampshire Review,Fairy Tale Review, Pebble Lake Review,and Sonora Review. A recent Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Daniel lives in Iowa City, where he also works for the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio.

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Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education
Iowa Summer Writing Festival
C215 Seashore Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

Phone 319-335-4160
FAX 319-335-4743
iswfestival@uiowa.edu

Last updated on February 11, 2008