The Peru Gazette

A Writing Workshop for Everyone at ACWApril 12—Saranac Lake, NY—The Adirondack Center for Writing (ACW) will offer a free, drop-in writing workshop for attendees of any experience level (age 16+) on Wednesday, April 19 at 7PM at 15 Broadway, Saranac Lake. As April is National Poetry Month, the theme for the workshop is Blackout Poetry.

In this workshop, participants will learn about and try their hand at blackout poetry (also known as erasure). Blackout poems are culled from source texts that are (in many cases) not inherently poetic. Source texts could include scientific textbooks, political speeches, celebrity interviews, or national park brochures. The writer then erases or crosses out the majority of the words (redacting), with the remaining words creating the poem. Publication of erasure poetry will also be covered. All supplies provided. No writing experience required. This workshop will get participants creating no matter their genre, age, or experience level.

Led by ACW’s Visiting Writer Erin Dorney:

Erin is the author of “I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems After Shia LaBeouf” (Mason Jar Press, 2018), co-founder of Fear No Lit, and has been published in Autofocus, Tolka, HAD, and other literary journals. Her literary artwork and installations have been featured at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Hennepin Theatre Trust, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Susquehanna Art Museum.

She has been in residence at Soaring Gardens Artists’ Retreat (Laceyville, PA), Hewnoaks (Lovell, ME), Tofte Lake Center (Ely, MN), Anne LaBastille Memorial Writers Residency (Twitchell Lake, NY), and Spruceton Inn (West Kill, NY). Learn more about Erin’s work at www.erindorney.com.

ACW wants creative writing to be known as something anyone can try, regardless of past experience or education. Writing can be therapeutic, help to organize and detail a person’s thoughts, or simply be a source of fun, play, and experimentation. It all comes back to a core principle of ACW’s mission: everyone has a story to tell and deserves to be heard.

More about the instructor: Tyler Barton is the author of Eternal Night at the Nature Museum (Sarabande, 2021) and The Quiet Part Loud (Split/Lip, 2019). His short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in The Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, LitHub, Barrelhouse, and have twice been listed as “Distinguished” by Best American Short Stories. He lives in Saranac Lake, NY and serves as the Communications Manager for the Adirondack Center for Writing Learn more at tsbarton.com.

The Adirondack Center for Writing has been serving communities throughout the entire Adirondack Park for over 20 years. For more info about ACW and our latest programs, visit www.adirondackcenterforwriting.org and follow @adkctr4writing on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook).