Addressing the Past with Marianne Chan

Since ancient times, poets have been writing poems addressed to a beloved, a friend, an enemy, a muse, and so on. These poems take the form of an epistle or an apostrophe, a direct address to a person who is absent. As writers of color, how can we use the epistolary and apostrophic mode to speak directly to our own cultural and personal histories? In our time together, we will discuss examples of the apostrophic and epistolary poems and explore how these techniques of direct address allow writers to reckon with the past and the self. Participants will also have an opportunity to write a poem of their own.

ELIGIBILITY:

This craft class is open to all writers of color. The non-refundable tuition fee is $50. This class will be held over Zoom. There are scholarship spots available, and the applications are open through Sunday, March 19th.

REGISTER FOR THE CLASS HERE.

APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP HERE.

Marianne Chan grew up in Stuttgart, Germany, and Lansing, Michigan. She is the author of All Heathens (Sarabande Books, 2020), which was the winner of the 2021 GLCA New Writers Award in Poetry and the 2022 Association for Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, New England Review, Kenyon Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Cincinnati.