Immigrant Poetics

Class Description

Writing is an immigrant art. We're constantly crossing borders: between times, between life and death, between one mind and another. And in each new place we survey and surveil, we forage, we gather, repurpose, tinker, build. This is true especially of writers in "hybrid" genres.

This seminar is for writers who wander the in-between spaces, who migrate from poetry to fiction to non-fiction to drama. It's about finding the immigrant in yourself. Immigrants are at home when we're not at home. We know unknowing. We have learned to unlearn. We carry within us multiple versions of ourselves, multiple histories, whole nations, continents, oceans. We know the art of losing. To be an immigrant is to learn to die many times, to be forced to, out of sheer hunger, to pick and choose the languages, the styles, the genres, to fall into, to fall with.

We will explore dislocation and amnesia through techniques of erasure and constraint. We will practice how and when to move from verse to prose. We will consider writing as surveillance and counter-surveillance. We will practice how to stitch fragments together, how to shore them up against ruin. Writers will walk away from this generative class with a rough draft of a short (2-3 page) genrefluid text, and ideas and tools for further development.

All writers are welcome. (But especially writers who are immigrants and/or writers of color.)

Class Format

This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!

Scholarship Information

Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.

For more more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.