Poetry As Caregiving: an in-person Master Class at HVWC with Sean Thomas Dougherty

This workshop/lecture will explore a conception of writing as the act of caregiving.  What is the difference between caring for vulnerable populations and the art of writing?  What if we think of writing as an extension of what we bring to the world to help others?  In this workshop Sean Thomas Dougherty, a state certified Med Tech and caregiver, will share and expand on his ideas of what this means to us as people and writers, and lead the participants to reflect on their own experience, and how to write about the things and people we’ve nurtured and loved.  Or did we?  What about caring for those who have hurt us?  Or the things we have lost in the world?  Participants will discuss and write exercises and share what we write and hopefully leave holding onto each other and their words tenderly together despite this world’s trauma.

This two-hour Master Class will take place in person at the Hudson Valley Writers Cenetr in Sleepy Hollow, NY and will be capped at 12 people. There will not be a virtual option.

Sean Thomas Dougherty is the author or editor of twenty books, including Death Prefers the Minor Keys (September 2023, BOA Editions) and The Dead Are Everywhere Telling Us Things, winner of the 2021 Jacar Press Full Length book contest, selected by Nickole Brown and Jessica Jacobs. Other books include All You Ask for is Longing: New and Selected Poems (BOA Editions 2014) and Double Kiss: Stories, Poems, Essays on the Art of Billiards(Mammoth Books 2017). His awards include a Fulbright Lectureship to the Balkans and an appearance in Best American Poetry. Known for his dynamic readings, he has performed at hundreds of venues, universities, and festivals including the Dodge Poetry Festival, the Old Dominion Literary Festival, and a tour across Albania and Macedonia sponsored by the US State Department. He lives in Erie, PA. For more information about Sean Thomas Dougherty, visit seanthomasdoughertypoet.com.