The Sundress Academy for the Arts hosts the Sundress Workshop Series, a series of generative writing workshops emphasizing composition, revision, and creative development. As part of Sundress Publications, the Sundress Workshop Series provide focused, personalized instruction to writers of all skill levels. Participants are treated to guidance from advanced instructors who help them to not only hone their craft but also find suitable venues for their work. These monthly workshops are free to attend.
Workshops
a lot of curiosities
March 19th, 2025, 6:00-7:30PM EST
http://tiny.utk.edu/sundress
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “a lot of curiosities” 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,” 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.
While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to Danielle Shandiin Emerson via Venmo: @dani-emer or CashApp: Danielle Emerson
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.
This event is brought to you by a grant provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission.
Writing Queer & Trans Geographies
April 16th, 2025, 6:00-7:30PM EST
http://tiny.utk.edu/sundress
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Writing Queer & Trans Geographies” a workshop led by CD Eskilson on Wednesday, April 16th 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).
From cruising spots to campgrounds, from national landmarks to local sites of protest, an array of physical spaces are at the fabric of queer and trans life. Place and our ongoing relationship to it is a powerful way in which we come to know ourselves and become known to others: it impacts decisions on whether to be out or in the closet, sometimes both figuratively and literally.
This generative poetry workshop will look at how the theme of place offers fruitful opportunities to engage with themes of identity and social justice, challenge fraught assumptions about where queer and trans life thrives, as well as conceptualize affirming futures. We’ll consider how to render the settings where we feel most authentically ourselves and craft work that interrogates the idea that setting is meant only for description: rather, it is an inexorable part of who we are.
We will examine work by Natalie Diaz, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Evelyn Berry, Danez Smith, and Andrea Abi-Karam.
While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to CD Eskilson via PayPal: paypal.me/cdeskilson
CD Eskilson is a trans nonbinary poet, editor, and translator. They are a recipient of the C.D. Wright/Academy of American Poets Prize, as well as a Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and Pushcart Prize nominee. Their debut poetry collection, Scream / Queen, is out now from Acre Books.
This event is brought to you by a grant provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission.