WHEN: 2 Hours: Saturday, November 13 (1 - 3pm EST)

WHERE: Online, via Zoom video conference

In human life, narrative is implicit. Where narrative is missing or muddled, the mind craves and provides a story. How do we harness this narrative impulse in poetry? And in what ways is the toolkit for narrative poetry similar to, and different from, that of the fiction writing toolkit? In this class, we’ll study a range of approaches to narrative poetry—from straightforward and linear to fractured and opaque. We’ll discuss character, POV, and the manipulation of time. And we’ll consider what makes the ultimate effect of narrative poetry wholly distinct. Limited to 12 writers.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

ANDERS CARLSON-WEE is the author of The Low Passions (W.W. Norton, 2019), a New York Public Library Book Group Selection as well as the 2019 Connecticut Poetry Circuit Selection. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, BuzzFeed, Ploughshares, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many other publications. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the McKnight Foundation, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, he is the winner of the 2017 Poetry International Prize. His work has been translated into Chinese. Anders holds an MFA from Vanderbilt University and lives in Cincinnati. www.anderscarlsonwee.com