KWELI INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FESTIVAL
MASTER CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
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The master classes and workshops are exclusively for BIPOC writers.
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
August 2 - September 6, 2022: Surprise & Inevitability, Rachel Kondo
August 6, 2022: Crafting Persona: Mirrors on the Page, Tyehimba Jess
August 6, 2022: Lindy Hopping and Poetry, Nikky Finney
August 6, 2022: Beyond Truth: Writing the Mystical, the “Otherworldly,” and the Invented Essay, Jaquira Díaz
August 7, 2022: The Role of Research in Writing Creative Nonfiction, Hannah Bae
August 20, 2022: Writing as Reclamation, Nadia Owusu
August 13 & 20, 2022: Plot, Narrative Structure, and Theme: Bringing It All Together, David Heska Wanbli Weiden
August 21, 2022: Uses of the Sonic: The Sonic as Power, Kemi Alabi
September 6, 2022: Reading Your Work With an Editor's Eye, and Understanding Publishing, Megha Majumdar
Surprise & Inevitability (Multi-session workshop)
Led by Rachel Kondo
Tuesday, August 2, 2022 - Tuesday, September 6, 2022; 8pm - 10pm EST
This six-week workshop will highlight endings as a means of looking at process. If a story can be defined as a thoughtful organization of narrative elements, then how do some stories build to endings that can feel both unexpected and somehow like the only possible conclusion? Through a series of examples, we’ll look at a few of the decisions that were made in an attempt to arrive at feelings of surprise and inevitability, moving us readers from aha! to of course…
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add workshop to Bundle III for a special rate, or select the workshop as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form.
This multi-session workshop is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
Crafting Persona: Mirrors on the Page (Masterclass)
Led by Tyehimba Jess
Saturday, August 6, 2022; 10:30am - 1:30pm EST
This workshop will explore the ways of creating persona and understanding the search for self in the search for the other. Utilizing research guides and techniques that uncover motivation, influence, context, and material conditions, we will unlock empathy in order to better understand history, ourselves, and the world's current sociopolitical challenges.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add masterclass to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the masterclass as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list masterclass name and order of preference in the designated field.
This masterclass is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
Lindy Hopping and Poetry (Craft Talk)
Led by Nikky Finney
Saturday, August 6, 2022; 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
The Lindy Hop was a dance invented by Black Americans in Harlem in 1927-1928. The defining movement of the Lindy Hop is the swing out. In the swing out, one partner pulls the other from an open position into a closed position while pivoting 180 degrees, and then swings the partner back to the original starting position. Poet Nikky Finney often uses the terminology of seemingly disparate but equally mesmerizing things in the world to inspire her to get closer to what she would like to achieve in her own work -- dramatic and memorable poetry. Nikky believes the swing out is a critical move in poetry writing. This workshop focuses on how to recognize the closed position and how to leap into the breakaway moment. This workshop situates itself in when and how to swing out!
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add craft talk to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the craft talk as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list craft talk name and order of preference in the designated field.
This craft talk is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
August 6, 2022: Beyond Truth: Writing the Mystical, the “Otherworldly,” and the Invented Essay (Masterclass)
Led by Jaquira Díaz
Saturday, August 6, 2022; 4:00pm - 7:00pm EST
Most often, creative nonfiction deals with truth and reality. But there is room in memoir and personal essay for speculation, imagination, and experimentation. And more importantly, for some of us, what the dominant culture considers mystical or “otherworldly” is innate: we pass down oral stories and family lore, we commune with our dead, we live with our ghosts, our ancestors guide us in very real ways. Let’s talk about writing spirituality. Let’s celebrate writing about magic, visions, hauntings, ghosts, monsters. Let’s move beyond truth, beyond just the facts, toward seeing the world with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Let's work toward something that is just as real: emotional truth. We’ll begin with a short lecture, then move on to a discussion, looking at ways to reimagine what is possible, alternate histories and realities, working with metaphor rather than the literal, deliberately moving backward and/or forward in time, and suggesting new ways of seeing and thinking about reality and imagination in the essay and memoir. Finally, we’ll have short writing exercises.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add masterclass to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the masterclass as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list masterclass name and order of preference in the designated field.
This masterclass is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
The Role of Research in Writing Creative Nonfiction (Masterclass)
Led by Hannah Bae
Sunday, August 7, 2022; 11am - 2pm EST
When it comes to writing creative nonfiction, investigating the past is key to understanding our present. In this generative, craft-based class, writers of all experience levels will learn about how they can draw from research, reporting and history – memories, photographs, archives, myths, language and other sources – to inform their writing. We’ll work through some writing prompts, have opportunities for writers to share what they’ve generated, and talk about how any writer can incorporate research into their process, weaving in facts and history to invigorate our personal narratives, ultimately allowing our stories to move beyond the strictly individual realm.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add masterclass to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the masterclass as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list masterclass name and order of preference in the designated field.
This masterclass is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
Writing as Reclamation (Masterclass)
Led by Nadia Owusu
Saturday, August 20, 2022; 11am - 2pm EST
Many of us write to make sense of the world and to wrestle with questions about our own histories, and the histories of our families and the places we come from. We write to process trauma, grief, isolation, dislocation, and disconnection. But what if we discover that so many of the stories we’ve been given about our bodies, ourselves, our homes, and our places in them don’t serve us? What if we discover that some of those stories were created to harm us? We’ll explore what sources we might draw from when the archive and media fail us, how we can interrogate, complicate, and challenge harmful dominant narratives, and how we can reclaim and remake our stories toward healing, self-love, and a reimagined world.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add masterclass to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the masterclass as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list masterclass name and order of preference in the designated field.
This masterclass is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
Plot, Narrative Structure, and Theme: Bringing It All Together (Masterclass)
Led by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Saturday, August 13, 2022; 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
and
Saturday, August 20, 2022; 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
In this fiction seminar, we’ll examine in detail the standard three-act plot design, as well as techniques and strategies to improve the arc of your work. We will also examine alternatives to the standard model and contemplate the possibility of decolonized narrative structures. We’ll also look at developing and incorporating the theme of your book, as well as using setting to reflect your thematic elements. We’ll consider examples from various writers, and conclude with a writing exercise, followed by a dialogue and discussion.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add masterclass to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the masterclass as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list masterclass name and order of preference in the designated field.
This masterclass is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
Uses of the Sonic: The Sonic as Power (Craft Talk)
Led by Kemi Alabi
Sunday, August 21, 2022; 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
How can poems live in what Fred Moten describes as “the space between the laws of music and the laws of meaning?” Can poets harness the power and pleasure of sound to create a new collective sense-making? Drawing on Black radical traditions and Audre Lorde’s pivotal essay “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” this talk will explore the transformative potential of sound play and lyric knowledge.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add craft talk to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the craft talk as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list craft talk name and order of preference in the designated field.
This craft talk is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
Reading Your Work With an Editor's Eye, and Understanding Publishing (Craft Talk)
Led by Megha Majumdar
Tuesday, September 6, 2022; 11:00am - 12:30pm EST
In the first part of this class, we will consider how an acquisitions editor might read your work—what they might look for in an opening, and what questions they might ask of a manuscript. We will think about how writers might draw upon an editor’s toolkit to strengthen their own pages. Then, in the second part of this class, which is more career-focused, we will discuss the acquisitions process as well as publishing process, answering practical questions (When should you look for an agent? What kind of edits will an editor do with you? What else can you expect from your editor beyond work on the text?). I encourage participants to come with specific questions relating to their own manuscripts and publishing goals. At the end of the session, I hope participants feel that the acquisitions and publishing process has been demystified to some degree.
REGISTER HERE. On the registration form, add craft talk to a bundle package for a special rate, or select the craft talk as an Add-On option at the end of the registration form. Please list craft talk name and order of preference in the designated field.
This craft talk is exclusively for BIPOC writers.
