When: Wednesday, November 1st, 6pm - 9pm
Where: Iowa Writers' House, 332 East Davenport St
Cost: $275 for the 5 class series
ABOUT THE CLASS
This class focuses on what happens after we find the words that let us connect ourselves to our memories and to the larger world around us. We will move beyond a core memory or event toward a story that promotes an openness to futures that we would desire. In this way, we are able transition from a place of hurt toward a path of healing. Because such writing involves the grieving process it demonstrates the need for editing and the ability to shape our stories by expanding the context. Editing our stories is not simply excising events that we wish not to remember, but involves adding moments, scenes, and contexts that provide a character arc of an autonomous self. Even in stories where characters lack autonomy, the writer / editor is able to alter how events are told or experienced in ways that liberate characters to more choices in the future.
Alesha Packer
Writer and Grief Recovery Specialist
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Alesha Packer is a writer and certified grief recovery specialist. Since 2001, she has taught composition, creative writing, literature at Indian Hills and Kirkwood Community College. She also teaches English workshops at the University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank Honors Center. As a student of the Poetry Workshop, she studied with Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham and poet / novelist James Galvin.
She has also practiced and taught the healing power of writing and works with Energeia as a leader of the write-to-heal circles and weekend retreats. As a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist her areas of expertise include childhood trauma, depression, suicide, divorce, and infertility.
ABOUT THE POWER OF STORY SERIES
This series will be held on Wednesdays from 6pm-8pm for 5 weeks from Oct 18th to Nov 15th at the Iowa Writers' House. Working in partnership with Energeia, this interconnected series of classes explores the power of writing as a tool for self-exploration, personal healing and transformative growth.
The series will cover topics ranging from the science and energy of story to the power of story as a tool in processing grief, and will examine how reframing the understanding of one's life can lead to self-healing and personal transformation. Finally, the series will explore how to unlock wonder in the stories of our lives that contribute to the betterment of the world. Each class offers participants the means to identify, interpret, and incorporate all of these concepts in a way that opens new avenues of personal transcendence and emotional empowerment.
REGISTER FOR THE POWER OF STORY 5 CLASS SERIES
Everyone has a story to tell. If you are financially unable to attend this workshop, scholarships are available through our generous partners and donors. Apply here.
APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP
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All course information is sent to participants upon registering including confirmation of workshop times, location, and materials. Our workshop cancellation policy can be found here: http://www.iowawritershouse.org/cancellation-policy