Summer Wednesdays on Cooper Street - Photographic Poetry

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP:

Click. Shutter. Snapshot. Bring your camera lens to poetry! In this workshop, we will use the techniques of photographers in order to effectively capture seemingly ordinary moments in transcendent poetry. By studying the photographic poems of Ruben Quesada, Stephen Dunn, and Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, we will learn how to use lyricism and line breaks to craft our own poems that evoke human experience tied to a given time and place. Participants will leave the workshop with a photograph composed of words, not pixels. No camera necessary. Participants are encouraged to think about, and bring in if possible, a photo from childhood.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Sophia Hall represents her hometown, Washington DC, as the 2023 Youth Poet Laureate and a 2023 Presidential Scholar. She lives a double life: 18-year-old poet by day, secret agent by night. You may have seen her on your TV screen during a commercial break–– she was featured in Giant Food’s “This Is Home” campaign as a spoken word artist. Her writing has been recognized by organizations like the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the Library of Congress, and Button Poetry. Her poem “Multiple Choice,” won grand prize in Sixteen River Press’s Youth Poetry Contest and was subsequently nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and her poem “What We Leave Behind” was a Frontier Poetry finalist for North America. She currently attends the University of Pennsylvania, where she was recruited for creative writing.

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This 5:30pm workshop is in person. Enter the Writers House through the door at the rear of the building. The Camden County Library will offer a free, on-site story time and crafts session for children ages 4+ during the workshop; you'll be able to indicate your interest when you register.

Afterward, we’ll be having dinner at the Writers House from 6:45-7:15. $10 for general public, free for Camden residents & RUC students. Register here.

Want to join us for the 7:30pm virtual workshop? Register here. You may tune in on your own or stick around the Writers House (we’ll be hosting a watch party!). Either way, you will need a ticket.

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Register for June and July in-person workshops and you'll be emailed a code for 50% off August’s in-person workshop.

During the registration process, you'll provide their email address, and the Writers House will be in touch. You only need one waiver for any/all of the events on July 10, but you will not be able to participate without this waiver.

Host or Publisher The Writers House at Rutgers University-Camden