Vocalize-Verbalize: Writing and Songwriting Workshops

Bella Luna Studios at the Wolf House proudly presents Vocalize-Verbalize, a three-week writing series of workshops with an optional performance afterwards, featuring five local songwriters and five local writers/poets.

The vision behind the series is to Resist. Vocalize. Verbalize. Practice Gratitude. Solidarity. Come together in community and create. All levels or musicians and songwriters are welcome!

Seating is very limited (25). Be sure to reserve your spot early if you care to join us.

Links to all of the workshops are listed below under the bio of each teaching artist.

Paula Cisewski

The workshops will take place on April 22, 29, May 6 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on May 10

Michael Kleber-Diggs

The workshops will take place on February 25, March 4, 11 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on March 22

Kathryn Kysar

The workshops will take place on April 1, 8, 15 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on April 19

Annie Mack

The workshops will take place on April 23, 30, May 7 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on May 9

Jeremy Messersmith

The workshops will take place on January 22, 29, February 5th from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on February 7

Sarah Morris

The workshops will take place on May 13, 20, 27 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on June 3 at 7:30 pm

Lynette Reini-Grandell

The workshops will take place on January 28, February 4, 11 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on February 22

Annette Schiebout

The workshops will take place on May 14, 21, 2 8 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on June 4

Zachary Scot Johnson

The workshops will take place on February 20, 27, March 6th from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks created on February 7

Katy Vernon

The workshops will take place on April 2, 9, 16 from 6-9 (doors at 5:30)

There will be an optional performance to showcase what folks. created on April 18

PAULA CISEWSKI is the author of six books: The Becoming Game (Hanging Loose, 2025), Ceremonies for No Repair (Beauty School Editions), Quitter (Diode Editions Book Prize winner), The Threatened Everything (Burnside Review Books), Ghost Fargo (Nightboat Poetry Prize winner, selected by Franz Wright), Upon Arrival (Black Ocean), and of several chapbooks. She's taught academically and privately for over twenty years. She incorporates tarot, labyrinths, chance operations, ritual, and other means of discovery and surprise in her workshops.

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KATHRYN KYSAR is the author of Dark Lake and Pretend the World, and she edited Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers. Her work has recently appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Mollyhouse, and Voice Mail Poems. Kysar teaches at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.

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ANNIE MACK is an Accomplished Singer-Songwriter and Healing Justice Activist. As a Queer Black Woman, creative, mother of three, and radical truth-teller, Annie’s lived experience provides a deep wealth of knowledge and insight into what it is like to navigate oppressive systems while trying to pursue black joy, healing, creativity and justice. A soulful singer and unflinching songwriter who writes from the gut and demands your attention.

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MICHAEL KLEBER-DIGGS (KLEE-burr digs) is a poet, essayist, literary critic and arts educator. He’s currently working on a memoir about his complicated relationship with lap swimming called My Weight in Water, forthcoming with Spiegel & Grau (2026). His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and was published by Milkweed Editions in 2021. His poems and essays often explore themes of intimacy, community, empathy, and grace, concepts he argues are both independent and interdependent.

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JEREMY MESSERSMITH is a Minneapolis-based songwriter, storyteller, and one of Minnesota's most sought-after live performers. Known for his heartfelt melodies and introspective, relatable lyrics that explore themes of love, loss, and the intricacies of everyday life, messersmith is one of those rare artists who can break your heart one minute, and then put those fragile pieces back together again, all the while maintaining a roguish sense of humor.

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SARAH MORRIS has a habit of missing the forest. From the day the Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter picked up a guitar, armed with the bone-deep memory of her parents’ well-loved record collection, she’s been too busy crafting love letters to the details of the trees. Morris’ endearingly honest, expertly penned songs encourage audiences to pull away from the big picture and get caught up in the magic of our everyday minutia—the rainy day ache in her sunlit voice granting us permission to escape into stories at once hauntingly familiar and uniquely her own.

Here’s To You, her 5th album of original material, sees Morris shedding some country swagger in favor of a lusher, more celestial sound. With layers of harmonies and synths orbiting the terra firma of her band’s guitar, bass and drums, Morris’ clarion voice shines brightly. Whether they’re celebration songs, grief songs or gift songs, you feel devotion to her craft in every line. Produced by multi-instrumentalist Dave Mehling, Dave Franklin of The Big Takeover declared Here’s To You ‘.. a triumph. An album of space and restraint, any note played, every word uttered feels perfectly and purposely placed’.

Inclined toward the intimacy of live performance, Morris spends a remarkable amount of time on stage. Whether solo, backed by the country kick of her long-time band The Sometimes Guys or as half of vintage-harmony heavy duo The Home Fires with Vicky Emerson, her playful-hearted presence is both captivating and contagious. In addition to being a 2018 Kerrville New Folk winner, she recently earned third place at the 2023 Songwriter Serenade, as well as being chosen as a finalist for Telluride Troubadour, and taking 2nd place at the 2016 MerleFest Chris Austin Songwriting Competition. Morris has performed at Lincoln Center (New York), Dakota Jazz Club (Minneapolis) and Bugle Boy (La Grange).

Morris is deeply committed to the Twin Cities’ life-giving music community. She hosts an online interview program called, “Hey, I Miss You,” to amplify the work of her peers. Morris is head cheerleader for a local songwriting collective and collaborates with musicians for a Youtube series of under-rehearsed cover songs filmed in her laurel green bathroom. As a writer, lover, mother, and witness, Morris invites us to join her in missing the forest for the trees, with songs that count and celebrate the glorious details of our messy, magical, everyday lives.

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LYNETTE REINI-GRANDELL’s books include the memoir Wild Things: A Trans-Glam-Punk-Rock Love Story as well as two poetry collections: Wild Verge and Approaching the Gate (winner of the 2015 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Poetry). She has been nominated for a Pushcart and received grants for her work from the Finlandia Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. She performs with the Bosso Poetry Company and the jazz/poetry collective Sonoglyph. Often inspired by Finnish folk culture and song, she frequently collaborates with Nordic Roots artists in multimedia performances. She lives in Minneapolis on the ancestral homeland of the Dakota people.

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ANNETTE SCHIEBOUT is a consultant, freelance writer and project manager. She is the founder and CEO of Bella Luna Studios at the Wolf House - an artist residency and performance venue. Annette taught writing at the high school and university levels for fifteen years, and has worked as a freelance writer and editor for ten. She has participated in literary and musical performances throughout the Twin Cities and Los Angeles, including TIC, Saint Paul Almanac, Poetry Circus - LA, Cracked Walnut, My Ocean, iNMigration, Goth Mom, Prairie Fire Lady Choir. Annette is Loft Literary Center fellow and an Intermedia Arts mentee.

She has received a fellowship from WritingXWriters and residencies at Sirenland and Squaw Valley. She is published in rps, Honeypot Literati, F'Jords Review, Ó Bhéal and others. Her poetry film A Short History of My Addictions won Audience Choice Award at the Co-Kisser Poetry and Film Festival. Annette received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Hamline University. She calls Minneapolis, MN home.

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ZACHARY SCOT JOHNSON is both a well traveled singer/ songwriter, having shared the stage with artists like Shawn Colvin, Keb' Mo', Marc Cohn, Jane Siberry, The Be Good Tanyas, Suzanne Vega, Lisa Loeb, Steve Forbert, The Verve Pipe, Richard Shindell, The Greencards, Cheryl Wheeler, Lucy Kaplansky, Susan Werner, Juliette Lewis, Shawn Mullins, Catie Curtis, John Hammond and others and a strong internet presence, including a YouTube channel with well over 42 million views, a strong Facebook fanbase, and more. He has performed for legends including Tony Bennett, Bernadette Peters and others. He has been touring nonstop since 2001 and has performed just about everywhere within the US.

He has released five cds, including 2004's "Moment of Clarity", 2008's "To Whom It May Concern", 2011's "Live at the Guild" with longtime collaborators Mark Paffrath and Jeff Ward, 2017's "Sad Songs" and 2023’s self-titled “Zachary Scot Johnson” (also released on vinyl). Zach's music has brought him to stages of all sizes across the country and onto multiple NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX morning and evening shows, radio around the country and more. Johnson is a nationally touring artist, performing 100 or more dates annually and is a proud member of the Grammy Recording Foundation.

His hit YouTube channel, thesongadayproject has Johnson bringing a song--either original or cover--from wherever he is on any given day and has run for over 4, 400 consecutive days (over 12full years without a single missed day), and garnered an astonishing number of loyal viewers. Over 350 guests have appear on the channel in collaboration with Zach including Donovan (who flew Zach to Ireland to record together), Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Marc Cohn, Jeff Daniels ("Dumb and Dumber", "The Newsroom", etc.) Noel Paul Stookey & Peter Yarrow (from Peter, Paul and Mary), Creed Bratton ("The Office" and The Grass Roots), Lisa Loeb, J.D. Souther, Paula Cole, Carlene Carter, Mary Gauthier, Melissa Manchester, Nellie McKay, Eliza Gilkyson, Cheryl Wheeler, John Gorka, Gretchen Peters, Ruthie Foster, Collective Soul, Over The Rhine, Stephen Kellogg, Jeremy Messersmith, Mary Black, David Wilcox, Tom Paxton, Ellis Paul, Lucero and many more.

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KATY VERNON is a London born singer songwriter who is based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her resume highlights include being named the Winner of Best Acoustic Performer of 2020 By City Pages, the Eric Stokes songwriting award, and Kerrville Folk Best new song finalist award.

Her most recent record ‘Suit Of Hearts’ was named album of the year by Ukulele magazine as well as landing on several local best of lists.

She was also a finalist in Ukulele magazine for Best International Ukulele player!

In addition to playing solo she also just launched a feminist rock band called Favourite Girl. They just released their self titled debut song.

In addition to her music career she also sits on the board of the mental wellness organization Dissonance, curates several local concert series, and sings the role of Agnetha in an all star ABBA tribute band called Abbasolutely Fab!

Host or Publisher Annette Schiebout