Writing Toward Forgiveness: A Generative Poetry/Prose Workshop with Eleanor Kedney (Zoom)

While the theme of this workshop may elicit deeply personal reflection, it is a craft-focused presentation inviting writers to explore universal experiences through the art of poetry. We will begin by choosing an option for forgiveness, e.g., forgiving another person, a group of people, or oneself and stay with that option throughout the workshop. We’ll discuss fundamental agreements that can support writing about difficult material. A series of prompts that employ specific narrative techniques (for poetry or prose writers), along with exemplary poems, will help you enter the writing process to explore grief, understanding, and forgiveness. After each prompt, there will be the opportunity to share what you’ve written or you may choose to discuss your experience with using the craft element instead. You may discover greater clarity about something or someone you want to forgive and leave with work you want to continue writing. The workshop ends with reading a poem that lets go of story and gives it away. There will be breaks during the workshop.

BIO: Eleanor Kedney is the author of Twelve Days From Transfer (3: A Taos Press, 2024), Between the Earth and Sky (C&R Press, 2020), and the chapbook, The Offering (Liquid Light Press, 2016). Twelve Days From Transfer was a 2024 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards finalist; Between the Earth and Sky was a finalist for the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and the American Book Fest 2020 Best Book Awards. Her work has been published in various journals, magazines, and anthologies. She is the recipient of the 2019 riverSedge Poetry Prize (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). Honors include a finalist mention in the 2020 Mslexia Poetry Competition. Kedney founded the Tucson branch of the New York-based Writers Studio and served as the director for ten years. She joined the Tucson Poetry Festival board in 2021. Inspired by craft techniques utilized in her books, Eleanor offers poetry workshops. She divides her time between Tucson, Arizona, and Stonington, Connecticut.