To Have and Keep a Beautiful Mind: A Multigenre Writing Workshop
$175
Poet Nikky Finney writes, “I’ve been on the hunt for how to have and keep a beautiful mind in the midst of old and new catastrophe ever since I realized a beautiful mind was possible to have.” Lest we forget ! And to this we might add, from Mary Oliver, “The world didn’t have to be beautiful to work, but it is. So what does that mean?” Further still, the Chilean dissident poet Raúl Zurita says that “each new poem helps to further construct paradise.” In this two-day intensive, we will gather under the sign and influence of these (and probably other) epigraphs. The work will be writing toward the world that love demands, writing as a form of hopeful experiment and rebellion in the face of disaster.
This will be a generative writing workshop that helps us create material from a variety of prompts, models, and methods. We will build community with each other, learn some revision hacks, share feedback, and come away from the weekend intensive with plenty more to think about and develop in our writing practice.
Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most Delves have at least one access spot available.
janan alexandra
janan alexandra is the author of the poetry collection come from (BOA Editions). The recipient of support from the Mellon Foundation, the Fulbright program, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, janan is a 2025 Djanikian Scholar in Poetry and won the 2023 Adrienne Rich Award for her poem, “On Form & Matter.” Since 2015, janan has taught creative writing in schools, libraries, youth centers, zoom rooms, and carceral spaces. She currently teaches at Indiana University and at the Monroe County Correctional Center, edits poetry at The Rumpus, and helps curate MONDAYS ARE FREE, a Substack collaboration between BFF poets Ross Gay and Pat Rosal.
