Poetry as Praise with Amanda Johnston
December 13 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm CST
$75
Saturday, December 13, 10am–1pm CT, online via Zoom
Nonmember $75; Member $65; Student/Educ/Mil $53
*EARN CPEs
TWO SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
Honor that special someone, a major milestone, or that first sip of coffee with a praise poem!
Through times of hardship and joy, poetry connects us to our shared human experience. Praise poems give writers a vessel to carry wonder and gratitude and to deliver loving messages to their community.
In this one-day workshop led by Texas Poet Laureate Emeritus Amanda Johnston, participants will explore poetic forms of praise, learn how to identify and celebrate the awe-inspiring everyday moments of life, and craft new works that can be given as gifts to loved ones.
This class is open to writers of all skill levels 18+.
In this workshop students will:
- Explore poetic forms of praise.
- Write and share new praise poems.
- Build an idea catalog for future works.
Amanda Johnston is a writer, visual artist, and the 61st Poet Laureate of Texas. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter, and editor of the anthology Praisesong for the People: Poems from the Heart and Soul of Texas, coming Fall 2025 from Host Publications. Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them Callaloo, Poetry Magazine, The Moth Radio Hour, Bill Moyers, The Rumpus, and the anthologies Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, American Short Fiction, Prizer Arts & Letters, and the Academy of American Poets. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, and founder of Torch Literary Arts.
IG: @poetamandajohnston
Facebook: Amanda Johnston
Website: AmandaJohnston.com
