Poets@Play Creative Writing Workshop with Jen Siraganian

Sunday, March 23, 1-3 p.m. (PST)
@ Markham House
enter gate at 635 Phelan Avenue, SJ
Free (donations welcome)

Poets@Play is a monthly creative writing workshop hosted by former Santa Clara County Poet Laureate David Perez. Each session features a different guest facilitator—or sometimes David himself—leading hands-on exercises to inspire creativity and new ideas.

This month, former Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, Jen Siraganian leads her workshop “Mastering the Metaphor”

What do you do when you have a wonderful idea but you're not sure how to capture it in a poem? Sometimes a metaphor can tame that unruly idea. Join Jen Siraganian for a class in which we'll discuss how to use figurative language in poetry. Learn about the ways in which metaphors can create distance between a subject while also adding layers of complexity and understanding. After reading poems by Nikki Giovanni, Ada Limon, Kevin Young, and others, we'll try to craft our own poems containing metaphors in playful and fresh ways.

Jen Siraganian is an Armenian-American writer, educator, and former Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, California. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in AGNI, Barrow Street, Best New Poets, Cortland Review, NPR’s KALW, Poetry Daily, Prairie Schooner, The Rumpus, Smartish Pace, and other journals. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she was co-winner of the New Ohio Review Poetry Prize and is a Lucas Artist Fellow. A former managing director of Litquake: San Francisco’s Literary Festival, she has taught in schools and community settings for twenty years. jensiraganian.com   

No RSVP required. Just show up at 1pm

Admission: Free (donations welcome)

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park
635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Once you walk into the park, go straight until the road dead ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left.