This might be the most excited Sarah has ever been about a workshop collaboration!
What You'll Get in this
Free 90-Minute Virtual Workshop:
Experience Poetry as a Door
What if poems are doors? What if they are welcoming us to enter them? Sarah will interview Pádraig about how poetry can be "a place of hospitality for people to meet each other."
Experiment & Play with Language
During the workshop, we'll engage in generative writing using prompts inspired by poems. We'll experiment and take risks on the page, opening to new ideas, forms, and syntax.
Reclaim Why Art Matters Now
Making art is a political act. Not because of its content, but because of the act of making. When we create, we introduce something new into the world -- what Elaine Scarry calls "fragments of world alteration." We connect to our agency and remember it's possible to repair.
Remember the Beautiful Things Humans Create
Sometimes it's easy to believe all we're capable of is destruction. Poetry helps remind us that we can make beauty too. We make war, yes, but we also make symphonies and paintings and bridges and peace.
Explore How Poetry Can Enliven Your Writing
Sarah uses poems in her generative writing workshops as prompts. The point is not to "understand" the poem or decode it. The point is to let the language reveal what's possible and help us break through self-imposed limits on the page.
Reconnect with Yourself and A Community of Writers
Gather as a community of writers and readers to reconnect to why our writing matters and to remember that we never write alone.
Meet Pádraig Ó Tuama
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, conflict mediator, and presenter of the podcast Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios. From 2014 to 2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland's oldest peace and reconciliation community. He's the author of many books, including Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in The World, and Daily Prayer. His newest collection of poems is Kitchen Hymns, published in January 2025. And in February, his book 44 Poems on Being with Each Other: A Poetry Unbound Collection will be published.
Meet Sarah Sentilles
Sarah Sentilles is the author of five books, including Draw Your Weapons, which won a PEN-America Award for Creative Nonfiction. Her most recent book, Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn’t Ours, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Idaho Book of the Year. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Oprah Magazine, Los Angeles Times, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She’s had residencies at Hedgebrook and Yaddo. She earned a bachelor's degree at Yale and master's and doctoral degrees at Harvard. She taught at universities for a decade and is the co-founder of the Alliance of Idaho, which works to protect the human rights of immigrants.
She is represented by Molly Friedrich at The Friedrich Agency.
WORKSHOP DETAILS &
WHAT TO BRING
WHEN: Friday, February 21, 2025 from 1-2:30 pm PST (United States)/ Saturday, February 22 from 8-9:30 am AEDT (Australia)
WHERE: On Zoom (and it will be recorded)
BRING: Something to write with/on (paper/pencil/computer -- whatever works for your body). Come ready to write!
During the 90-Minute Live Virtual Workshop:
- Sarah will interview Pádraig about why poetry matters (especially now!)
- Pádraig will share some of his most favorite poems
- Sarah will lead you through generative writing prompts based on those poems