The Best of Both Worlds: Welcoming Poetry and Poetic Elements into Your Prose—A Workshop with Jasminne Mendez

Thurs, May 6 & 13, 6:30-8:30pm
Offered via Zoom and WetInk
Nonmembers $125; Members $105; Students: $75

One of the greatest pieces of advice I received from a mentor once was: “You don’t have to give up being a poet to write prose.” In this generative writing workshop, we will explore the lyric and braided essay form and how poetry and poetic elements can be integrated into the narrative of a piece in creative and interesting ways. We will look at examples of essays that incorporate poetic strategies such as repetition, alliteration, imagery and even rhyme, and we will use prompts to create our own lyric or braided essays.

Jasminne Mendez is a poet, playwright, educator and award-winning author. Mendez has had poetry and essays published by or forthcoming in The New England Review, Crab Creek Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, and others. She is the author of two poetry/prose collections Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award, and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry(Arte Pubíico Press, 2018). Her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas will be released in 2021 (Arte Publíco Press). Her first full-length poetry book Machete will be released in 2022 (Noemi Press). She is an MFA graduate of the Creative Writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.