Poetry of Joy, Writing as Gratitude

Special Topic Workshop: 1 Session
Saturday, October 12, 10 am – 12:30 pm
Instructor: Kristen Zory King

Deadline to Register: October 4, 11:59 pm

The art of poetry and the art of gratitude are often interwoven. In this generative writing workshop, participants will examine joy and gratitude as active pursuits in both writing and life. We will study contemporary poems and poets who effectively acknowledge, appreciate, and, in turn, resist the world around them, including Ross Gay, Mary Oliver, Naomi Shihab Nye, and others. Each writer will leave with a draft of one poem (perhaps two!), prompts to use for further writing and journaling, and recognition of, as the poet Rumi declared, the “hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Kristen Zory King is a writer and artist facilitator based in Washington, DC. She is a 2019 recipient of an Arts and Humanities Fellowship through the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities as well as an alumni of the 5th Woman Poetry Fellowship in Knoxville, TN and of the 202Creates Residency Program in Washington, DC. A passionate advocate for the arts and community, Kris is the founder of MoonLit, an organization that aims to “creatively connect community through low-cost literary programming in DC, Baltimore, and Virginia.” Recent work can be found in Electric Lit, Past-Ten, District Lit, SWWIM, and Lipstick Party Magazine. Learn more at www.kristenzoryking.com.