Writing in Response to Gay New York: A Writing Workshop for Seniors with Michael Klein

Weekend Intensive with Michael Klein: Writing Workshop for Seniors

Friday, June 21, 6pm-8pm
Saturday, June 22, 11am-1pm; 2pm-4pm
Sunday, June 23, 11am-1pm; 2pm-4pm; 6pm Reading

Artist Nicholas Buffon’s work in Gay New York: Walt Whitman to the Present engages many sites from his own daily life—as well as sites important to gay history and community. In this workshop, we will write poems from our lives while, at the same time, engaging with gay history as we have lived it, and the gay community generally, as we experienced or longed for it. We will use the Poets House library to explore the work of Frank O’Hara, Henri Cole, Danez Smith, and Adrienne Rich. Using these poems and Buffon’s work as inspiration, we will write new poems to share with each other. The workshop will focus on reading aloud and revision suggestions so we can tell our stories as effectively as we can. Following the workshop we’ll share with friends and family in an open reading on Sunday evening.

Tuition is free; pre-registration is required. Please contact Gia Gonzales via phone (212.431.7920 ext. 2821) or email to pre-register.

Michael Klein is a five-time Lambda Literary Award finalist and has won the award twice: for Poets for Life: 76 Poets Respond to AIDS and for his first book of poems, 1990. His latest book of poems and prose is When I Was a Twin, and he’s currently working on a book of nonfiction called Radical Loneliness and the Imaginary Life. He taught in the MFA Program at Goddard College for more than 20 years and currently teaches writing at Hunter College in New York, where he lives with his husband, dog, and two cats.