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• Twelve Poets to Change Your Life // with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

  • Start
    04 June 2025
  • End
    15 July 2025
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    15

  Register

  
  

  Poetry can foster healing, advocate for liberation, break silences, create community, grow courage, and continually give us new maps to find our own true north. 

  This six-week class leads you on a journey through illuminating poetry from contemporary and historic poets who speak from a multitude of communities, places, times, and traditions.

  We’ll read some of the writing of Ilya Kaminsky, Gwendolyn Brooks, Czeslaw Milosz, Muriel Rukeyser, Joy Harjo, Galway Kinnell, Diane Seuss, Li-Young Lee, Emily Dickinson, Linda Pastan, Walt Whitman, and Ada Limón.

  Come immerse yourself in poetry you may already love or poetry you will get to fall in love with while also generating a lot of new poems of your own!

  

  Each week features two poets, including a sampling of their poetry, links to articles and interviews, and a summary about what their work offers us as readers and writers. Additionally, each week includes craft lesson, writing tips, and lots of writing prompts to help you open doors to your new poems. We’ll share our writing and positive responses to each others’ writing online in a warm and welcoming community. By the end of the workshop, you'll have a big bunch of new poems and, through the poets we're exploring, lots of new poet-companions.

  Week-by-week

  Week One: Who We Are Alone and In a Crowd: Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson: This week’s historic poets deeply consider what it is to contain multitudes (Whitman) and speak in deep solitude (Dickinson), both of whom have a lot to show us about identity, history, and voice. 

  Week Two: The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Linda Pastan and Gwendolyn Brooks: Find the magic in everyday life through writing about the seemingly ordinary in all its extraordinary specifics, all of which shows us more of real life in real life. 

  Week Three: Liberation and Illumination: Ilya Kaminsky and Muriel Rukeyser: Poets, including one current (Kaminsky) and one historic (Rukeyser) poet this week, who write of transformation and freedom shine a light on what it is to survive and build greater community with others who seek liberation. 

  Week Four: Healing Fountains: Li-Young Lee and Ada Limon: Through exploring the poetry of personal and communal healing in Lee’s and Limon’s poetry, we can find and write some of our own healing fountains, surfacing what's ripe for revising in our lives and life stories to craft more authentic and generous narratives to write and live. 

  Week Five: Finding Home: Galway Kinnell and Czeslaw Milosz: Poets who write deeply about home in multiple dimensions can help us see where we live, from our bodies to the cosmos. This week's poets open windows into the ways we come home to our bodies, places, and ecoregions. 

  Week Six: Maps to a New World: Diane Seuss and Joy Harjo: Poetry can also help us re-envision where and how we live, lighting from within the details and big picture views of our lives. By considering the work of these poets who write so vividly of the present, stretching language to show us new maps, we can better comprehend the possibilities of our time and place.

  Who Should Take This Class

  This is a generative class for all people who drawn to poetry, whether you're just getting started or have a long-time practice. All the writing prompts and interactive activities are designed to meet you where you are and gather us into a vibrant poetry community for the duration of our time together. 

  We offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.
  

  Format

  This is an online class in which we come together through an interactive website in council, reaching across the miles to hold one another's words and reflect deeply on what we discover individually and together. Each week includes ample writing prompts, a short essay on the poets we're visiting with this week, a discussion and examples of the craft of strong writing, and a short meditative piece (often a podcast) about this week's theme, including considerations for your own immersion into the writing life. Expect to spend a minimum of 2-5 hours per week on writing poems and responses to each other on our site. Participants are also asked to respond to at least three other participants' work each week, deepening our dialogue altogether. Most of the exercises will give participants options to write in the genre of their choice.

  We will also meet in two optional Zoom meetings -- at the beginning (to get to know each other) and end (to celebrate our writing) of the class.

  About the Facilitator

  

  Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, PhD is the founder of Transformative Language Arts, the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 24 books, including How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam's Well, a novel; Needle in the Bone, a non-fiction book on the Holocaust; The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community, and Coming Home to the Body. A beloved writing workshop facilitator and writing and Right Livelihood coach, she offers writing workshops widely, particularly for people living with serious illness, adults in transition, humans looking for greater connection with the earth, and poets and writers seeking their most courageous voice on the page and in their lives. She loves life-giving collaborations, including YourRightLivelihood.com with Kathryn Lorenzen, Bravevoice.com with Kelley Hunt, and TheArtofFacilitation.net with Joy Roulier Sawyer. She offers weekly “Care Packages for a Creative Life” through her Patreon page, and her long-time blog, “Everyday Magic” at CarynMirriamGoldberg.com. 

  Born hard-wired to make something (in art, music, and especially writing), Caryn’s long-time callings include writing as a spiritual and ecological path, yoga, cultivating a loving marriage, family, and community, and helping herself and others make and take leaps into the miraculous work of their lives. For over three decades, Caryn has worked with many arts and ecological/bioregional not-for-profit organizations as a grant-writer, fundraiser, staff or board member, and consultant on collaborative and community arts, group process, and better meetings. She lives in the country on land she and her husband, ecological writer Ken Lassman, have put in a conservation reserve and are restoring as prairie and woodlands. See more at www.CarynMirriamGoldberg.com

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• TLA Network Virtual Salon

  • When
    08 June 2025
  •  
    5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
  • Location
    online
  • Registered
    3 registrants

  Register

  
  

  TLA Network Virtual Salon

  Sunday, June 8, 2025

  Join Us!

  5:00–6:30 pm ET (UTC-5)
  

  4:00–5:30 pm CT // 3:00–4:30 pm MT // 2:00–3:30 pm PT // 10:00-11:30 pm UTC

  Click here to find your timezone.

  Our Virtual Salons feature TLAN members who all use the written, spoken, or sung word for personal and community transformation. TLAN members have incredibly generous spirits, and we are excited to provide a venue to feature their artistic work.
  

  The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) virtual salons feature presenters who are active members of TLAN. Each presenter will have 5-7 minutes to present their written, spoken, or sung work followed by a brief period of audience response. 

  Registration is FREE and open to anyone, not just members of TLAN and will take place online via Zoom. 

  After the reading, there will be an artist talkback and time for questions and engagement from the audience. 

  You must register if you would like to attend: a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day before the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

  The salons are free to attend and donations to TLAN are very welcome to allow us to continue to sponsor events like this.

  Stay Tuned for Our June Presenters!

  
  

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• Telling It Slant: The Art of Autofiction // with Elizabeth Chesla

  • Start
    11 June 2025
  • End
    22 July 2025
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    18

  Register

  

  This generative class invites you to explore new ways to “tell the truth, but tell it slant” by exploring the powerful, playful world of autofiction.

  We’ll examine examples of autofiction and analyses of autofictional texts to develop a working definition of the genre and its techniques, then put those techniques into practice, deliberately blending autobiographical fact with fiction to tell it true.

  Through weekly readings and discussion, we’ll consider the conventions of autobiography and fiction and what happens when we crisscross the liminal space between the two. Weekly writing prompts will give you the opportunity to experiment with ways to consciously reconstruct, revise, and reimagine life events and to give and receive kind, constructive feedback in a supportive, compassionate community. We’ll also have three optional Zoom classes where you can ask questions, dive deeper into texts, and share your ideas and explorations with each other.

  We all have stories to tell. By blurring the boundary between genres, autofiction invites you to tell your story without the constraints of memoir or autobiography and see what new stories can emerge by casting yourself as a character and (re)writing your past.

  Week by Week

  WEEK 1:  What Is Autofiction? — Beginning with a series of excerpts from autofictions, we’ll define autofiction and its conventions. How is it like and unlike fiction, memoir, and other (sub)genres? We’ll discuss the challenges of defining autofiction and its controversies and consider reasons to choose autofiction as a storytelling vehicle. Prompts will invite students to explore their expectations as readers of different genres and their reactions to texts that break those expectations and consider how fiction can sometimes “be a better vehicle for truth than nonfiction” (Dorothy Allison).

  WEEK 2:  Author (vs.) Avatar — Students will be invited to experiment with the foundational feature of autofiction: author as avatar. We’ll discuss the impact of social media, gaming, and the pandemic on our ability and willingness to turn ourselves into characters by modifying, enhancing, or downright fabricating our identity. Prompts will invite plenty of play as students develop a series of performative “selves.”

  WEEK 3:  Remembering and Reimagining —Taking the opening line of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five as our motto—“All of this happened, more or less”—we will dive into the neuroscience of memory and then reconstruct memories, allowing ourselves to play in the realm of the imaginary. From Natalie Goldberg’s “detail transplants” to radical re-visions of events, students will be invited to see how fiction opens up new possibilities for telling it true.

  WEEK 4:  Bearing Witness — Autofiction offers a framework that allows storytellers to transform the raw into the readable and relatable. This week, we’ll look at the ways autofiction creates distance that allows us to bear witness to the deep, the difficult, the transformative. Students will be invited to use autofiction techniques to document moments of personal and/or global significance.

  WEEK 5:  Crisscrossing Borders: Following and Upending Storytelling Conventions — This week we will dig deeper into the techniques of autofiction, looking at models and experimenting with “enhancers” that challenge traditional contracts between writers and their readers. Students will be invited to apply these techniques to pieces they’ve already drafted or to new pieces and consider their effects.

  WEEK 6:  Autofiction as Collaboration and Protest — Our final session will include discussion of the many ways autofiction is both an act of collaboration and an act of resistance. Students will be invited to share and discuss their work in a final showcase/celebration of their autofiction adventures. Students will also be given resources for continuing to read, write, and perhaps publish their autofiction work.

  Who Should Take This Class

  This course is for language artists of any genre interested in exploring the genre-bending and genre-blurring realm of autofiction. It may be especially helpful for anyone wishing to write about difficult personal experiences, especially if a memoir is not a viable option, or for anyone exploring personal or family histories where information about the past is unavailable, unknown, or unclear. 

  We offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.
  

  What former Telling It Slant students have to say
  

  “I learned that I can be free as a writer to tell the truth as I know it . . . I didn't realize just how much it was holding me back until taking this class and allowing myself that freedom to explore.”

  “Liz allowed us to enter a space of writing with freedom. The responses and engagement from others in the class was nourishing and kind.” 

  “In this course I wrote and shared from places of trauma. I had not ever done that before, except in private. I will remember this course for doing that for me.”

  “This class introduced me not only to a new form of writing, but to new ways of thinking about truth, fiction v. non-fiction, what it means to write anything, and what forms that may take. Quite a lot in six weeks, I'd say. It has opened a door that has been closing me off from writing what I feel I need to write but have been afraid to try, fearing ‘what they'd say.’ Forever grateful!”

  Format

  This is an online class, hosted on the online teaching platform Wet Ink. The day before class begins, you will receive an email invitation from Wet Ink. There are no browser requirements, and Wet Ink is mobile-friendly. The Wet Ink platform allows you to log in and complete the coursework on your own time. Coursework for each week will be posted by 6:00 AM EDT each Wednesday beginning September 6. 

  Three optional 60-minute Zoom sessions will take place. Dates and times to be announced.

  This class utilizes personal reflection, group discussion, and both individual and collaborative writing exercises to explore the topic of autofiction. You should plan to spend about three hours per week on the class writing and sharing your responses to the readings, discussion questions, creative writing prompts, and posts by your peers. The class is formatted so that you can engage with the material any time throughout the week. At the end of the class, you will receive an email that contains an archive of all your content and interactions.

  About the Teacher

  Elizabeth Lukács Chesla is the author of You Cannot Forbid the Flower (2023), a hybrid novella based on her father’s experiences in World War II and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The daughter of Hungarian refugees and a mother of three, she earned her MA from Columbia University and spent a decade teaching writing and literature in New York City before moving back home to the Philadelphia suburbs to raise her family. There she wrote books on reading, writing, and critical thinking skills for educational publishers; served as an editor for nonprofit organizations; taught online writing and literature courses for homeschoolers; became a yoga teacher specializing in support for hypermobility and trauma; and co-founded a weekly embodied writing group for women. She teaches writing and literature at Gwynedd Mercy University, provides writing and editing services for a wide range of clients, and serves as fiction editor for Consequence Forum. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Quarter After Eight, Another Chicago Magazine, Hungarian Literature Online, and Flare: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Told in Flash Narratives. Learn more here.

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• The Magic Eye and Writing From Body and Place: A Workshop and Reading// with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

  • When
    26 July 2025
  •  
    2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    online
  • Spaces left
    30

  Register

  

  Come discover and unearth more about how writing can be a practice of coming home to our bodies, communities, and eco-communities.

  By writing about our most local address of the body as well as the places where we live and find sustenance, we can continually cultivate deeper vision and perspective while also writing our way toward greater awareness, presence, and true homecoming.

  In this writing retreat, we will explore writing about body and place as well as how to open our vision to where and who we are through the act of turning words into poems, essays, journal entries, songs, or whatever other genre calls our name. 

  This workshop also includes Caryn giving a a mini reading from her new memoir, THE MAGIC EYE: A STORY OF SAVING A LIFE AND A PLACE IN THE AGE OF ANXIETY,  which unfolds her twined stories of journeying through eye cancer and, with a cast of unforgettable family and friends, saving a place: a fifth-generation farm where she and her husband live. 

  Beyond being detailed, caring, and brilliant in her editing, teaching, and consulting work, there is something about Caryn’s warm, authentic, empowering, Inspiring, and joyful presence that I have rarely observed in other leaders. – Harriet Lerner

  What We Will Be Experiencing Together

  We would begin with a welcome and introductions that help us name and share places where we felt most at home.

  Caryn would then share a short talk on writing from body and place before sharing writing ground rules and a short writing prompt. Participants would share their writing altogether or in breakout rooms, depending on the number of people there, and then we would discuss insights and questions that arose in the process.

  We would then discuss the theme of homecoming through writing: what it can mean to us and how we can better use writing to re inhabit our bodies and places, leading to Caryn sharing a short meditative writing prompt to help us bring more embodied ways of knowing into our writing before a short writing prompt.

  After each class I recognize the peaceful place the class creates in me. My response to listening to others and hearing your responses to our work fills me with contentment, joy ,and satisfaction. The level of trust that we experience opens us to heartfelt honesty even as deeply painful experiences are shared.  Thank you for the sparks your words create. –  Patricia Durkin
  

  Caryn would then give a short 15-20 minute reading from her forthcoming memoir (out July 17), The Magic Eye.

  We would conclude with a closing exercise.

  All participants receive an ample handout of writing prompts, free access to a PDF of THE MAGIC EYE, and free shipping for a hard copy of THE MAGIC EYE if they wish to purchase the book.

  This workshop is also a fundraiser for the TLA Network, so please join us to support TLAN's good work for many bodies in many places.

  Who Should Attend?
  

  Writers in any genre (poetry, memoir, fiction, mixed genre, spoken word, songs, etc.)  -- whether they're writing to share their words with a cast of thousands or their own trusted journal -- who wish to bring into their writing a deeper sense of being a body and living in a specific place. This workshop could also be beneficial for people writing about the specific ecology and where they live as well as people drawn to narrative medicine (writing about health, illness, and healing). Finally, since our bodies, and often our places too, change as we and they age, this workshop would also speak to people facing new phases of their lives.

  I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and working with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg for the past decade, and have rarely encountered a more insightful, compassionate, or integrous teacher and coach. —Mark Matousek, award-winning teacher, author, and mentor

  Format
  

  This class will be presented Saturday, July 26, 2025 from 3-5PM ET/ 2-4 PM CT/ 1-3 PM MT/ 12-2PM PT / 8-10 PM UTC as a one-time, two-hour Zoom session. The day after class a recording, as well as notes and resources from the class, will be emailed to class members only. 

  Your Registration Fee is a Donation
  

  Because this event is so generously being offered by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg as a fundraiser, your entire registration fee will go directly to support scholarships, program development, and other offerings meant to expand and enrich our community. You will be helping programs like:

  • Power of Words Scholarship Fund
  • Online Class Scholarship Fund
  • The Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg Fund (conference and online class support for both BIPOC people and people who are living with serious illness and/or disabilities.)
  • Our free and open to all Community Circles and Virtual Salons

  Registration Levels:

  • Level I – $200.00
  • Level II – $150.00
  • Level III – $75.00
  • Level IV – $50.00

  We thank you. 

  About the Facilitator

  

  Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, PhD is the founder of Transformative Language Arts, the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 25 books, including the recent The Magic Eye: A Story of Saving a Life and a Place in the Age of Anxiety, and How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam's Well, a novel. A beloved writing workshop facilitator and writing and Right Livelihood coach, she offers writing workshops widely, particularly for people living with serious illness, adults in transition, humans looking for greater connection with the earth, and poets and writers seeking their most courageous voice on the page and in their lives. She offers the weekly “Write Where You Are” through her Patreon page, and her long-time blog is “Everyday Magic” at CarynMirriamGoldberg.com. 

  Born hard-wired to make something (in art, music, and especially writing), Caryn’s long-time callings include writing as a spiritual and ecological path, yoga, cultivating a loving marriage, family, and community, and helping herself and others make and take leaps into the miraculous work of their lives. She lives in the country on land she and her husband, ecological writer Ken Lassman, have put in a conservation reserve and are restoring as prairie and woodlands. 

  You can connect with Caryn at:

  https://www.carynmirriamgoldberg.com/

  Show details
• TLA Network Virtual Salon

  • When
    24 August 2025
  •  
    5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
  • Location
    online
  • Registered
    1 registrant

  Register

  
  

  TLA Network Virtual Salon

  Sunday, August 24, 2025

  Join Us!

  5:00–6:30 pm ET (UTC-5)
  

  4:00–5:30 pm CT // 3:00–4:30 pm MT // 2:00–3:30 pm PT // 10:00-11:30 pm UTC

  Click here to find your timezone.

  Our Virtual Salons feature TLAN members who all use the written, spoken, or sung word for personal and community transformation. TLAN members have incredibly generous spirits, and we are excited to provide a venue to feature their artistic work.
  

  The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) virtual salons feature presenters who are active members of TLAN. Each presenter will have 5-7 minutes to present their written, spoken, or sung work followed by a brief period of audience response. 

  Registration is FREE and open to anyone, not just members of TLAN and will take place online via Zoom. 

  After the reading, there will be an artist talkback and time for questions and engagement from the audience. 

  You must register if you would like to attend: a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day before the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

  The salons are free to attend and donations to TLAN are very welcome to allow us to continue to sponsor events like this.

  Stay Tuned for Our

  August Presenters!

  
  

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• Writing Hope: Turning to the Page in Difficult Times // with Angie Ebba

  • Start
    10 September 2025
  • End
    21 October 2025
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    16

  Register

  

  This six-week class will help us turn our fears, frustrations, and worries into words that help remind us of the positive in the world.

  Our world is shifting, and between environmental concerns, political issues, humanitarian crises, and our own personal changes and shifts, it can be easy to become overwhelmed.

  However, for thousands of years, poetry has been a vehicle of hope.

  This six-week class will help us turn our fears, frustrations, and worries into words that help remind us of the positive in the world. Through a variety of readings and texts, online discussions, and creative writing exercises, participants will investigate the topic of hope, how poetry can elicit hope, and ways to use our words to inspire and uplift. We will explore these themes through various forms of poetry including free verse, haibun, pantoum, tricube, collaborative writing and others, and we will investigate the use of poetic devices such as metaphor, repetition and rhyme, and more to enhance our writing. 

  Each week will include a variety of readings, both of poetry on the topic of hope or that brings hope, as well as essays and other texts discussing hope and writing.

  Each week will have a free-writing exercise, discussion boards to talk with your peers and build community, and at least three poetry prompts to choose from. 

  Week by Week

  Week One ​will begin with an overview of why writing is important and how to keep (or start!) writing when our worlds are turning upside-down. We will talk about practices for writing when things are hard, and how to take care of ourselves. We will also do introductions of ourselves, our daily worlds, and our creative practices.

  Week Two will discuss the role of poetry in the world and how our creative practices can be a source of hope and inspiration. We will use repetition in our writing to create musicality and rhythm and will talk about how this poetic device can be used to emphasize key themes in our writing.

  Week Three will discuss metaphor, both as a poetic device and also as a powerful tool for explaining difficult concepts. We will talk about the difference between hope and toxic positivity, and how to write hope while also not ignoring what is going on around us. We will experiment with writing metaphor and including it in our poetry.

  Week Four will introduce the idea of ‘glimmers’ or small moments of joy. We will discuss ways to focus on these both in our lives and in our writing. We will practice with the technique of ‘small noticings’ and incorporate strong sensory details into our poems.

  Week Five will focus on the narrative poem. We will talk about the importance of telling our stories, and how we can use our personal stories to generate hope. 

  Week Six​ will bring the various writing we’ve done throughout the course together and will include a collaborative poem as well. We will reflect on what we’ve gained and learned over the last several weeks and ways we plan to continue this work. There will be the opportunity to meet via Zoom for a reading of our work, and to gather in community.

  This course includes readings by poets such as: Emily Dickenson, Maya Angelou, Leonard Peltier, Naomi Shihab Nye, Andrea Gibson, Lucille Clifton, Anis Mojgani, Audre Lorde, Gregory Orr, Joy Harjo, Rudy Francisco, Shane Koyczan and more.

  Who Should Take This Class

  This class is ideal for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the world, going through a difficult period in life, or processing change, as well as those wishing to expand their creative practices or learn/practice various types of poetry. All levels of writers are welcome.
  

  If cost is a barrier, we offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.
  

  What former students have to say:

  • "I thought the instructor was marvelous - organized, prompt, thoughtful, and dedicated to giving what read as honest and notable feedback."
  • "Thank you so much for providing the content and a warm atmosphere."
  • "Angie's structure, readings, invitations and responses really helped me use poetry to process."
  • "Angie was warm and encouraging."

  Format

  This is an online class, hosted on the online teaching platform Wet Ink with one optional Zoom session held on October 18, 11am-12pm PST / 2pm-3pm EST. 

  The Wet Ink platform allows students to log in on their own time to post comments and critiques directly to authors’ works. You can also view deadlines, track revisions, and watch video or listen to audio. At the end of the class, each student will receive an email that contains an archive of all their content and interactions. Wet Ink is mobile-friendly and there are no browser requirements.

  About the Teacher

  ​Angie Ebba is a queer, disabled writer, educator, and performer who teaches writing workshops and performs online and across the United States. She has poetry published in Closet Cases, Queering Sexual Violence, Moon Water, and multiple other anthologies and literary magazines. She is a published essayist focusing on writing about disability and chronic illness, relationships and sexuality, and body positivity. She believes in the power of words to help us gain a better understanding of ourselves, to build connections and community, and to make personal and social change. Angie can be found online at rebelonpage.com
  

  Show details
• Writing the Dead // with Sharon Pajka

  • Start
    17 September 2025
  • End
    28 October 2025
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  

  This six-week journey through “Writing the Dead” facilitates meaningful dialogue about mortality, fosters creative engagement with themes of grief and remembrance, and encourages participants to use writing and art as transformative tools for connection.

  When writers and artists explore themes of death, mortality, and grief, we affirm our connections to the living world. This thoughtful engagement invites us to ask questions, seek meaningful connections, and collaborate—with the living and the dead, the past and the future, and even with audiences or subjects beyond our immediate reach.

  Instead of resolving these mysteries, we’ll embrace uncertainty as an essential aspect of the creative process, exploring art and writing that thrives on inquiry rather than answers.

  In this course, participants will approach these profound topics with sensitivity and care for themselves, their subjects, and their audience. Together, we’ll read and discuss short texts, examine related artworks, and experiment with creative writing as a critical tool for deepening understanding and transformative expression. Through discussions and writing exercises—such as personal correspondence addressed to recipients who cannot reply—we’ll generate fresh text and ideas to enrich both our writing and creative practices.

  Why this exploration is so important

  Contemporary western society is “death-denying.” With advances in health care and the big business of the funeral industry, many Americans deny the reality of death and have limited personal connections to death. In short, modern society is suffering from a “death taboo” and those involved with the death positive movement, part of the death awareness movement, encourage people to speak more openly about death (Koksvik and Richards, 2021). The movement strives to shift the dialogue about death and dying into community spaces (Breen, 2020). Research shared by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology notes, “an awareness of mortality can improve physical health and help us re-prioritize our goals and values... Even non-conscious thinking about death -- say walking by a cemetery -- could prompt positive changes and promote helping others.” Researchers argue that conversations around death are useful strategies to improve both death and grief literacy which may help promote the flourishing concept of compassionate communities as part of palliative care.

  Through this course you will:

  • Critically Engage with Death Awareness – Analyze contemporary attitudes toward death and dying, examining how societal norms shape personal and communal perspectives on mortality.

  • Explore Grief and Memory Through Creative Expression – Utilize writing, visual art, and ritual to process grief, honor memory, and cultivate a deeper understanding of loss.

  • Develop a Personal and Cultural Perspective on Remembrance – Investigate various cultural traditions and personal rituals surrounding death, considering how material objects, storytelling, and creative practices sustain connections with the deceased.

  • Experiment with Writing as a Tool for Dialogue with the Dead – Compose letters, reflections, and creative pieces that explore the concept of ongoing conversations with the departed, fostering personal and artistic growth.

  • Foster Community Through Shared Reflection – Participate in discussions, Death Café sessions, and collaborative exercises that encourage open dialogue about mortality, grief, and remembrance in a supportive environment.

  Week by Week

  Week 1: Death Awareness

  September 17- 23, 2025
  

  Media:

  o Death Positive Movement, The Order of the Good Death,

  o “Death Is Nothing at All” by Henry Scott-Holland

  o Teju Cole, “My Grandmother’s Shroud.” The New York Times

  Discussion Topics:

  o How modern society engages with or avoids the reality of death.

  o The transformative potential of death awareness in personal and community contexts.

  Activities:

  o Zoom Group conversation (recorded) exploring personal connections to the theme. Saturday, September 20 th 11-1pm ET

  o Writing exercise: Reflective writing prompt.

  Week 2: Grief and Creative Responses

  September 24- 30, 2025
  

  Media:

  o Bryan Perez, “A Student Finds Culture and Community at ‘Day of the Dead’

  Workshop.” 

  o Romare Bearden’s Tomorrow I May Be Far Away (companion NGA article).

  o Why ghosts are good for you: Patricia Pearson at TEDxTucson

  Discussion Topics:

  o Grief as a collaborative process in art and writing.

  o Examining cultural practices and personal rituals for remembrance.

  Activities:

  o Creative collage exercise inspired by Bearden, integrating themes of grief and remembrance.

  o Reflection: Writing a short piece about the collage’s meaning.

  Week 3: Realities of Death

  October 1- 7, 2025
  

  Media:

  o I See Dead People: Dreams and Visions of the Dying | Dr. Christopher Kerr |TEDxBuffalo (17 minutes)

  o “End-of-Life Care: Mending Mortality.” The Economist

  o Jonathan Jong, Jonathan. “How Scared of Death Are We Really – and How Does That Affect Us?” The Conversation

  Activities:

  o Create a sugar skull and compose a still life photography scene. Following the instructions from the paper sugar skull kit (where you color and fold the skull), you will create a still life photography scene containing inanimate objects along with your paper sugar skull in a way that is meaningful to honor a lost loved one.

  o Write an accompanying reflection on the meaning of chosen items and the meaning the objects hold in connection to your departed loved one.

  Week 4: Art and Ritual in Remembrance: Objects of Memory

  October 8- 14, 2025
  

  Readings:

  o We Need a Heroic Narrative for Death TEDMED

  o Rajat Singh, “We Need the Dead.” Asian American Writers’ Workshop

  o Penny Colman, Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial.

  o Instructions, examples, and guidance for paper sugar skull creation.

  Discussion Topics:

  o Personal versus cultural practices in honoring the dead.

  o The use of material objects to communicate memory and love.

  Activities:

  o OPTIONAL Death Café session: A facilitated group dialogue via Zoom (not

  recorded) Saturday, October 11, 11-1ET.

  o Write a reflection after the meeting.

  Week 5: Writing as a Bridge Between Worlds

  October 15- 21, 2025
  

  Readings:

  o Sharon Pajka, “Wind phones in cemeteries: an act of personal and community transformation.”

  o Postal Service for the Dead Eases Grief Through Letters, Episode 159, Heart of Hospice Podcast, May 18, 2023

  o “L.A. Artist and Archivist Celebrates Year of ‘Postal Service for the Dead.’” Tulip Cremation

  o Postal Service for the Dead

  Activities:

  o Writing to a departed friend, family, or foe.

  Week 6: Dialogues with the Dead and Moving Forward

  October 22- 28, 2025

  Readings:

  o L.A. Times, “‘Continue a conversation’ with the dead.”

  o Dagmawi Woubshet, Introduction to The Calendar of Loss: Race, Sexuality, and Mourning in the Early Era of AIDS, “Looking for the Dead: Disprized Mourners and the Work of Compounding Loss.”

  Discussion Topics:

  o How writing can deepen our relationships with memory and loss.

  o The idea of unfinished conversations as a creative and emotional tool.

  Activities:

  o Zoom Closing (recorded) Saturday, October 25 11-1pm ET

  Who Should Take This Class

  Any living person who has or will have an experience with a loved one's or their own death.

  If cost is a barrier, we offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.

  Format

  This is an online class, hosted on the online teaching platform, Wet Ink and includes three optional Zoom sessions: 

  • Saturday, September 20 11-1pm ET 
  • Death Cafe session October 11, 11-1pm ET 
  • Saturday, October 25 11-1pm ET 

  The instructor will post videos weekly on Wet Ink as well as the recordings from the Sept. 20 and Oct. 25 Zoom sessions. 

  The Wet Ink platform allows students to log in on their own time to post comments and critiques directly to authors’ works. You can also view deadlines, track revisions, and watch video or listen to audio. At the end of the class, each student will receive an email that contains an archive of all their content and interactions. Wet Ink is mobile-friendly and there are no browser requirements.

  About the Teacher

  Sharon Pajka is a Professor of English. She holds a Ph.D. in English Education and a graduate certificate in Public History. Her writing combines a love of words and the stories of those who came before us. She is the author of Women Writers Buried in Virginia (2021) The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe: Graves of His Family, Friends and Foes (2023), winner of the 2024 Saturday Visiter Awards by Poe Baltimore in the "Adaptation of Poe's Life or Works" category. 

  On the weekends, you can find her in the cemetery volunteering, giving history tours, researching and writing about cemeteries. Find more information on her website: https://www.sharonpajka.com/ 

  Works Cited: 

  •       Breen L. (2020). Grief, loss and the coronavirus pandemic. Aust. J. Gen. Pract. 49, 1–2. 10.31128/AJGP-COVID-20

  •        Graham-Wisener L., Nelson A., Byrne A., Islam I., Harrison C., Geddis J., et al. (2022). Understanding public attitudes to death talk and advance care planning in Northern Ireland using health behaviour change theory: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health 22:906. 10.1186/s12889-022-13319-1

  •        Koksvik G. and Richards, N. (2021). Death Café, Bauman and striving for human connection in ‘liquid times'. Mortality 16, 380–393. 10.1080/13576275.2021.1918655

  •        Society for Personality and Social Psychology. "How thinking about death can lead to a good life." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 April 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102516.htm>.

  Show details
• 2025 Power of Words Conference

  • Start
    03 October 2025
  •  
  • End
    05 October 2025
  •  
  • Location
    Unity Village, 1900 NW Blue Parkway, Unity Village, Missouri

  Register

  
  

  Join our 20th annual Power of Words Conference to explore the written, spoken and sung word to find how it can bring liberation, celebration and transformation within our communities. 
  

  Network with writers, storytellers, performers, musicians, health professionals, educators, and change-makers to connect with those who share your passion of making a difference with words.   

  Discover diversity and experience visionary voices at keynote sessions. Get inspired with workshops in five areas:  Social Transformation, Right Livelihood, Engaged Spirituality, Narrative Healing and Ecological TLA.

  Conference Costs:
  

  • Your registration payment of $275 (Members) or $315 (Non-Members) includes main conference events only.
  • Pre-conference events and our optional meal plan are sold separately. To purchase either of them, add them to your order when you register for the conference. 
  • • Pre-conference costs: $65 (Members); $75 (Non-Members)
    • Optional meal package: $150 (Four meals: Friday dinner, Saturday lunch & dinner, Sunday lunch)
  • Partial scholarships and work-study opportunities are available if cost is a barrier. Submit your application before you register. Scholarship and work-study applications close September 19, 2025.
  • Transportation and lodging are not included. 

  Lodging & Meals: 

  LODGING 

  The conference is being held at the beautiful and welcoming Unity Village in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.

  We have reserved blocks of rooms at both Unity Village Hotel and at Holiday Inn Express for $139/night.

  Holiday Inn Express is only 2 miles from Unity Village, and we encourage people with their own transportation to consider staying at this lovely hotel since we have a limited number of rooms at Unity Village.

  MEALS

  We are very pleased to be contracting with a new caterer who is providing excellent food, including ample gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian options as well as beverages and desserts. 

  Meals are a package deal: $150 includes Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch. You won't be able to buy individual meals, so please purchase the whole package if you need meals. Please note that there is only a small cafe with limited hours and offerings on the Unity Village campus and no dining options within walking distance.

  While our meal plan is optional, please strongly consider joining us for meals – it's a perfect way to connect with others, make new friends, and find new possibilities for your art and work. 
  

  (Breakfast is provided for free at the Unity Hotel and Holiday Inn Express for people staying at those hotels.)

  Detailed Meal, Lodging & Travel information is on our dedicated conference page.

  Meal, Lodging & Travel Info

  PLEASE NOTE OUR CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY:

  If you need to cancel your registration, please refer to the following schedule.
  

  • Aug. 14, 2025: Last day for full refund, transfer, or credit, minus $20 processing fee
  • Sept. 1, 2025: Last day for 75% refund, transfer, or credit, minus $20 processing fee
  • Sept. 11, 2025: Last day for 50% refund, transfer, or credit, minus $20 processing fee
  • No refunds available after Sept. 12, 2025

  We will not issue refunds, transfers, or credits after SEPTEMBER 12, 2025. (In the case of unexpected life circumstances—such as hospitalization or death in the family—contact us and we will try to do what we can.)

  Show details
• Embodied Storytelling through Song // with Elizabeth Addison

  • Start
    29 October 2025
  • End
    02 December 2025
  • Location
    online
  • Spaces left
    15

  Register

  
  

  Looking for a deeply moving experience that builds connection and healing and celebrates your resilience?

  This incredibly unique and innovative workshop builds on our other storytelling programs with the addition of music, guiding participants to discover a story within themselves and turn it into a song.

  Techniques combine narrative and drama therapy with a fully embodied songwriting process that requires no instruments and no prior skill, leaving participants with a deeply moving experience that builds connection and healing and celebrates their resilience.

  Week By Week

  Week 1

  • Identifying home - songs that give you a sense of comfort
  • Group ground work and community building through play
  • Finding the story for your song (prompts and verbal sharing)
  • Writing time

  Week 2

  • Music Therapy exercise 
  • Fleshing out your story
  • What is the most important thing of your story
  • Elements of a song
  • Writing time

  Week 3

  • Song structure
  • Coaching the heartbeat and melody
  • Finding your hook
  • Writing time

  Week 4

  • Time to share (you do not need to have a finished song!) 
  • Process and reflect

  
  

  “I didn’t know anything about song writing before taking Elizabeth’s innovative workshop. My experience was nothing short of amazing and by the time I left I felt I could actually use these new tools. I also witnessed others in the group have powerful experiences with her methods. I highly recommend her class whether or not you have ever written a song before.” -Kerrie Taylor, Recovery Coach and Facilitator

  
  

  Who Should Take This Class

  Anyone who has a story to sing. There is no "right" or "wrong" in this workshop. You do not need to be a songwriter or a singer or play an instrument.  You just have to have the willingness to play, try something new and be open to letting this work and this process work its way through you.  The process is the product.

  We offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.
  

  
  

  “Having participated in one of Elizabeth’s embodied storytelling through song workshops before, I was amazed by the ease with which she encouraged us all to forgo expectations of perfection and instead lean into our vulnerability—the heart of storytelling. She’s able to hold space for this work in a way that’s unavailable in traditional academic settings.By the end of the workshop, I realized that the work that she does is not just about supporting others in becoming great storytellers, but exploring the beauty and complexity of the human experience in a way that enhances our ability to form true connection with others.“ -Indie Recording Artist, Zakiyyah Sutton

  
  

  Format

  Course materials will be delivered through weekly Zoom sessions and a Google Classroom. Because the real creative work/play of the course will happen mostly in breakout rooms (which Zoom doesn't record) in the live Zoom sessions, the Zoom meetings are not going to be recorded. 

  About the Facilitator

  Elizabeth Addison is an award winning multi-hyphenate whose work exists at the intersection of recovery and the performing arts. She has written three musicals inspired by her recovery journey, one of which, “Chasing Grace,” is set to have an Off-Broadway run in 2025/26. Elizabeth is a Creative Recovery Coach, Story Coach and Trauma Informed Facilitator with The Meghann Perry Group where she facilitates Recovery Storytelling, Embodied Storytelling and Embodied Songwriting workshops.  She is also a consultant for The Opioid Response Network (ORN) and The Grayken Center at Boston Medical Center. Her website. 

  Show details
• TLA Network Virtual Salon

  • When
    07 December 2025
  •  
    5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
  • Location
    online
  • Registered
    Be the first

  Register

  
  

  TLA Network Virtual Salon

  Sunday, December 7, 2025

  Join Us!

  5:00–6:30 pm ET (UTC-5)
  

  4:00–5:30 pm CT // 3:00–4:30 pm MT // 2:00–3:30 pm PT // 10:00-11:30 pm UTC

  Click here to find your timezone.

  Our Virtual Salons feature TLAN members who all use the written, spoken, or sung word for personal and community transformation. TLAN members have incredibly generous spirits, and we are excited to provide a venue to feature their artistic work.
  

  The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) virtual salons feature presenters who are active members of TLAN. Each presenter will have 5-7 minutes to present their written, spoken, or sung work followed by a brief period of audience response. 

  Registration is FREE and open to anyone, not just members of TLAN and will take place online via Zoom. 

  After the reading, there will be an artist talkback and time for questions and engagement from the audience. 

  You must register if you would like to attend: a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day before the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

  The salons are free to attend and donations to TLAN are very welcome to allow us to continue to sponsor events like this.

  Stay Tuned for Our

  December Presenters!

  
  

  Show details