Calendar of Events
Sundress Academy: Intro to Creative Writing
Category: Classes, workshops, Free event, Literature, spoken word, writing and Virtual
"A lot of curiosities" workshop
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present "a lot of curiosities" an intro to creative writing workshop led by Danielle Shandiin Emerson on Wednesday, March 19 from 6:00-7:30 PM EST. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).
This is a hybrid introductory workshop titled, "a lot of curiosities": an intro to creative writing workshop, based off of an interview by Diné author, Stacie Denetsosie where she notes how asking questions and curiosity influences her writing. Storytelling comes from a place of warmth. It draws ever-changing connections between home, family, memory, and culture. This generative, crafty workshop aims to introduce a series of tools, ideas, and curiosities to storytellers of all levels, but especially those looking to dip their toes into creative writing for the first time. The workshop will consist of a short discussion asking the question: what is creative writing? And a guided session of an open writing prompt, titled ‘The Hands That Make Us.” Through this generative prompt, we’ll explore the stories in our hands, literally. Participants will come out with either a poem or piece of hybrid prose, based on their preferences.
Danielle Shandiin Emerson is a Diné writer from Shiprock, New Mexico on the Navajo Nation. Her clans are Tłaashchi’i (Red Cheek People Clan), born for Ta’neezaahníí (Tangled People Clan). She has a B.A. in Education Studies and a B.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University. She’s a 2024 GrubStreet Emerging Writers Fellow, a 2024 Lambda Literary Fellow, and a 2024 Diné Artisan + Author Capacity Building Institute Fellow. She has work published and/or forthcoming from swamp pink, Kweli Journal, Poets.org, Yellow Medicine Review, Thin Air Magazine, The Chapter House Journal, and others.
