Birchbark Books is located at 2115 West 21st Street, Minneapolis, MN 55405. (612) 374-4023
The beating heart of a poem could be said image. When we explore image we dive into the deep nature of symbol, and use the tools of simile and metaphor to express the deeps. In this writing workshop we will examine these waters and then take some swims into the waters ourselves. Don’t worry, though. A lifeguard will be posted.
Do you want to write a poem but don’t know where to begin? This class will be all about finding playful, fun ways to start new writing. Expect writing prompts and fun activities to activate your imagination. You will leave with several new poems started and creativity ignited.
Curated by Michael Kiesow Moore and Ardie Medina, the Birchbark Books Reading Series features new, emerging, and established writers quarterly September through May.
How do you hold light in the darkness? Can “peace” be such a light, and if so how? There are perhaps fewer words more used, for who does not want peace for themselves or the world? But what does peace actually look like?
Through writing we will consciously explore what peace is. Writing is a powerful tool for understanding ourselves and the world; writing can even change how we relate to both ourselves and the world. Participants will pull from their own craft toolkits of poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction.
There will be something here for beginners and advanced alike. As writers and as concerned human beings we will use writing to make peace in our lives and the world not just a noun, but a verb. The workshop will include opportunities for writing, as well as readings, discussion, and guided meditation.
This class is about using playful techniques to inspire new writing. Working with external prompts we’ll make found poems, bricolage poems (a type of found poem using multiple sources), and use images and objects as inspiration, especially from art in the galleries. Students can expect to write during class and share work with one another. You will leave with several new poems started and creativity ignited. (3 Thursday nights, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm)
Margaret Hasse has published five books of poems: Stars Above, Stars Below (New Rivers Press); In a Sheep’s Eye, Darling (Milkweed Edition); Milk and Tides (Nodin Press); Earth’s Appetite (Nodin Press); and most recently, Between Us (Nodin Press). Her honors and awards include the New Rivers Press’ Minnesota Voices prize, Milkweed Editions’ Lakes and Prairies competition, and the poetry award of Minnesota Independent Publishing Association. Margaret has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation, and The McKnight Foundation. She lives in Minnesota as a “citizen poet” — an indefatigable supporter of other poets, the literary culture, and efforts to enrich people and communities through the arts.
Denise Lajimodiere is an enrolled Citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Belcourt, North Dakota. She has been involved in education for forty years as an Elementary teacher and Principal, earning her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees from University of North Dakota. Dr. Lajimodiere currently works as an assistant professor in the Educational Leadership program, North Dakota State University, Fargo. Her poetry books include Thunderbird (North Dakota State University), Dragonfly Dance (Michigan State University Press), Bitter Tears (Mammoth Press), and an academic book Stringing Rosaries, Stories From Northern Plains Boarding School Survivors (North Dakota State University Press, pending). She is a Birch Bark Biting artist, and a traditional Jingle Dress dancer.
Denise Low, 2nd Kansas Poet Laureate, is award-winning author of 25 books, including her 2017 memoir, The Turtle’s Beating Heart, about her grandfather’s Lenape heritage (University of Nebraska Press). Other recent books are Jackalope (short fiction, Red Mt. Press), Mélange Block: Poems (Red Mt. Press), and Natural Theologies: Essays (The Backwaters Press). She has won three Kansas Notable Book Awards and has recognition from Seaton Prize, Pami Jurassi Bush Award of the Academy of American Poets, Roberts Prize, and the Lichtor Poetry Prize. She teaches professional workshops and classes for Baker University’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies. Low is former board president of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs. She blogs, reviews, consults, and co-publishes Mammoth Publications. Low has an MFA (Wichita State U.) and Ph.D. (Kansas U.). www.deniselow.net
Thomas Pecore Weso’s Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is a finalist for the international Gourmand Award and national winner in the category of Historical Recipes. The Midwest Independent Booksellers picked Good Seeds as one of three November selections, and The Miller’s Tale selected it as one of the “Best of the Fall Cook Books.” Weso is co-author of Langston Hughes in Lawrence (Mammoth Publications) and articles, reviews, and personal essays. Weso has an M.A. in Indigenous Studies from the University of Kansas and teaches social sciences at Kansas City Kansas Community College. He is a speaker for the Kansas Humanities Council library program Talk about Literature in Kansas and co-publisher of Mammoth Publications. Weso is an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Nation. www.tomweso.com
The Saint Paul Almanac will hold a release party for the latest edition of the Saint Paul Almanac: On a Collected Path at the Black Dog Café on Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. This eleventh edition has a new look with new Saint Paul stories like the ones that have gained the Almanac its national reputation for curating authentic voices with a sense of place.
This year’s theme is “On a Collected Path.”
Readings for this event include “1984: Refugee” by Choua Yang, “Energy Transferring Over” by Brittany “Miss Brit” Lynch, “99 Sheep” by Ethna McKiernan, “Night Rider” by David Lyndale, “Where I Belong” by Joan Maeda Trygg, and “The Lost Language” by Michael Kiesow Moore.
The first annual Highland Holiday Book Fair is the place to get your holiday shopping done for all the readers on your list! All local authors will be featuring their books and will be present to personally sign them.Curated by Michael Kiesow Moore and Ardie Medina, the Birchbark Books Reading Series features new, emerging, and established writers quarterly September through June.
For more, see http://www.michaelkiesowmoore.org/birchbark-books-reading-series/
Suggested donation $10, but no one turned away
