“We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t.” – Audre Lorde

As writers, we render lived experience. We are tasked with translating the multidimensional into the written word. Audre Lorde asks “What words do you not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day…?” To claim your voice can be a radical act. Writing allows us to process, to reflect, to learn, to question, to tell our own stories. In writing, we get to say what we’ve been through using our own language. This class will frame writing as empowerment.

In this class, we’ll study how poems tell stories and we’ll discuss how writing can break the silence that is often imposed upon us. We will read and engage in critical discussions of poems. Participants will generate new writing and share and workshop their poems. Open to writers of all levels, no previous workshop experience required.

Soleil Garneau was born and raised in New Jersey, on unceded Lenape land. She is a writer, educator & restaurant worker. She is a Miami Book Fair Emerging Writer Fellow, a Community of Writers alum, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside. You can find her work in The Spectacle, Salt Hill Journal, Thin Air Magazine & elsewhere.