A five-part series with local poet Leigh Lucas.
Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tenderness, tediousness, rage, devotion, filth, awe, grief, gratefulness, terror, joy, monotony, mystery. This is why some of the most exciting writing happening today, across poetry and prose, is about this wild, varied, and singular experience. Motherhood makes us vulnerable, heightens our senses, and rewires our brains. Any external thing we once defined ourselves by—the way we spent our free time, the threads of thought we chose to pull at, the ways we rebelled, the ways we flexed our independence—these have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, ours and their lives a fragile miracle. These are the conditions for great art, and the conditions for an artist at any point in their development to make a real artistic leap.
And yet, the unfortunate contradiction of this moment is that most mothers find themselves with less time to write and think than ever before. This class aims to address all of this: We will read and revel in some of the greats writing about motherhood today, write our own stories and poems, and build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking.
We’ll read and discuss Motherhood by Sheila Heti, The Baby on the Fire Escape by Jazmina Barrera, and Mothersalt by Mia Ayumi Malhotra, do in-class writing from prompts in the form of your choice, and the course will culminate in a mini party where we’ll read new writing aloud and cheer for each other.
Fridays, 9:30am - 11:00 am
Oct 23, Oct 30, Nov 6, Nov 13, Nov 20
Early Bird Registration by Oct 2
$320 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)
Standard Registration
$350 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)
A five-part series with local poet Leigh Lucas.
Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tenderness, tediousness, rage, devotion, filth, awe, grief, gratefulness, terror, joy, monotony, mystery. This is why some of the most exciting writing happening today, across poetry and prose, is about this wild, varied, and singular experience. Motherhood makes us vulnerable, heightens our senses, and rewires our brains. Any external thing we once defined ourselves by—the way we spent our free time, the threads of thought we chose to pull at, the ways we rebelled, the ways we flexed our independence—these have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, ours and their lives a fragile miracle. These are the conditions for great art, and the conditions for an artist at any point in their development to make a real artistic leap.
And yet, the unfortunate contradiction of this moment is that most mothers find themselves with less time to write and think than ever before. This class aims to address all of this: We will read and revel in some of the greats writing about motherhood today, write our own stories and poems, and build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking.
We’ll read and discuss Motherhood by Sheila Heti, The Baby on the Fire Escape by Jazmina Barrera, and Mothersalt by Mia Ayumi Malhotra, do in-class writing from prompts in the form of your choice, and the course will culminate in a mini party where we’ll read new writing aloud and cheer for each other.
Fridays, 9:30am - 11:00 am
Oct 23, Oct 30, Nov 6, Nov 13, Nov 20
Early Bird Registration by Oct 2
$320 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)
Standard Registration
$350 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)
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