A five-part series with local poet, Leigh Lucas.

Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tedium, tenderness, rage, devotion, filth, grief, 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 in a way that allows life to permeate our newly thinned skin, it heightens our senses as we stand awe-inspired, terrified, and grateful before a creature for whom we are entirely responsible. 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 and flexed our independence, have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, and life can feel like one extended 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, we will write our own stories and poems, and we will build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking. 

We’ll discuss Reproduction by Louisa Hall, Mother Archive by Erika Morillo, and Good Bones by Maggie Smith, 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 (and cheers) for each other.

Fridays, 10 - 11:30 am

Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13

Early Bird Registration by January 2

$300 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)

Standard Registration

$330 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members) 

A five-part series with local poet, Leigh Lucas.

Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tedium, tenderness, rage, devotion, filth, grief, 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 in a way that allows life to permeate our newly thinned skin, it heightens our senses as we stand awe-inspired, terrified, and grateful before a creature for whom we are entirely responsible. 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 and flexed our independence, have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, and life can feel like one extended 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, we will write our own stories and poems, and we will build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking. 

We’ll discuss Reproduction by Louisa Hall, Mother Archive by Erika Morillo, and Good Bones by Maggie Smith, 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 (and cheers) for each other.

Fridays, 10 - 11:30 am

Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13

Early Bird Registration by January 2

$300 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)

Standard Registration

$330 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members) 

A five-part series with local poet, Leigh Lucas.

Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tedium, tenderness, rage, devotion, filth, grief, 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 in a way that allows life to permeate our newly thinned skin, it heightens our senses as we stand awe-inspired, terrified, and grateful before a creature for whom we are entirely responsible. 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 and flexed our independence, have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, and life can feel like one extended 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, we will write our own stories and poems, and we will build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking. 

We’ll discuss Reproduction by Louisa Hall, Mother Archive by Erika Morillo, and Good Bones by Maggie Smith, 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 (and cheers) for each other.

Fridays, 10 - 11:30 am

Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13

Early Bird Registration by January 2

$300 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)

Standard Registration

$330 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members) 

A five-part series with local poet, Leigh Lucas.

Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tedium, tenderness, rage, devotion, filth, grief, 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 in a way that allows life to permeate our newly thinned skin, it heightens our senses as we stand awe-inspired, terrified, and grateful before a creature for whom we are entirely responsible. 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 and flexed our independence, have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, and life can feel like one extended 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, we will write our own stories and poems, and we will build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking. 

We’ll discuss Reproduction by Louisa Hall, Mother Archive by Erika Morillo, and Good Bones by Maggie Smith, 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 (and cheers) for each other.

Fridays, 10 - 11:30 am

Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13

Early Bird Registration by January 2

$300 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)

Standard Registration

$330 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members) 

A five-part series with local poet, Leigh Lucas.

Motherhood is laden with contradictions and extremes—tedium, tenderness, rage, devotion, filth, grief, 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 in a way that allows life to permeate our newly thinned skin, it heightens our senses as we stand awe-inspired, terrified, and grateful before a creature for whom we are entirely responsible. 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 and flexed our independence, have fallen away as we’ve rearranged ourselves around our child. We start anew, and life can feel like one extended 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, we will write our own stories and poems, and we will build sustainable writing practices that can flex with the unpredictability of caretaking. 

We’ll discuss Reproduction by Louisa Hall, Mother Archive by Erika Morillo, and Good Bones by Maggie Smith, 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 (and cheers) for each other.

Fridays, 10 - 11:30 am

Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13

Early Bird Registration by January 2

$300 early bird special (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members)

Standard Registration

$330 (15% off for Backstory co-working & community members) 

The tarot is all about intuition and interpretation. Many writers have been inspired by tarot (Alexander Chee’s multiple wonderful essays that include tarot in How to Write an Autobiographical Novel being one example; literary tarot decks like Taisia Kitaiskaia’s The Literary Witches Oracle, the Asian American Literary Review’s Open in Emergency, and Adrienne Maree Brown’s Lineages of Change deck being others). 

Each tarot deck is itself an interpretation of interpretations around a collection of beliefs, myths, archetypes, and rituals. In this class we will use tarot to spark new ideas, generate fresh imagery, and let our intuition guide us to new work. The session will include generative writing prompts and opportunities to share a bit of what we’ve created.

This 90 minute class led by local poets Carrie Mar and Cal Calamia is designed for writers and non-writers of all levels and disciplines. Please bring a pen and notebook (or a laptop, if preferred).

Wednesday, February 25 from 5:30-7:00 pm

(15% discount for Backstory co-working and community members.)