How Form Influences Function Friday, April 16, 7 p.m. $5. Registration is Required. <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-form-influences-function-tickets-146023274545> <https://creativecolloquy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/image0-13-scaled.jpeg> “Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.” – Audre Lorde The prospect of crafting thoughtful, meaningful reflection on life can be daunting on a good day and is even more so in uncertain and tumultuous times like we are in today. Using poetic forms can often provide a structure that makes the writing easier. In this workshop, writers will be exposed to and write in a variety of poetic forms, covering as many as time allows and moving from traditional forms (such as the pantoum) to modern forms (such as the golden shovel). No prior writing experience is necessary for this workshop! *ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: * *Lydia K. Valentine* is unapologetically Black. She is a passionate activist for equity and social justice, a proud mom of two amazing people, and an autistic, queer, card-carrying Blerd. She grew up in Aliquippa, Pa, a small, steel mill town north of Pittsburgh, and though she now calls the Pacific Northwest her home, she is a Quip for life. Through her own writing and the projects to which she contributes as a dramaturg, director, or editor under Lyderary Ink, <https://lyderaryink.com/> Lydia always seeks to amplify the voices of those who are often stifled, ignored, and marginalized in what has been the accepted narrative of the United States. Lyderary Ink maintains ongoing partnerships with empathos company, The Mahogany Project, Pork Filled Productions, Speak the Magazine, Toy Boat Theatre, and the We Out Here Festival. At the end of the 2020 school year, Lydia shifted from teaching full time at the Seattle Girls’ School to focusing on creative pursuits and consulting. She is working on putting together a virtual reading of her play, Aliquippa, and developing playwrighting and poetry workshops. Writing Interactive, Vivid SettingsSaturday, May 15, 6:30 p.m. $5. Registration is Required. <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-interactive-vivid-settings-tickets-146695878321> <https://creativecolloquy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Tyrean-Martinson-2020-Pic-1.jpg> Create interactive, vivid settings necessary to the plot and the character development: how a character is shaped by, lives with, interacts with, or fights against their social, environmental/natural, governmental, religious, cultural, familial surroundings. *ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: * *Tyrean Martinson*, lifelong SFF fan and reader, fenced foil and saber in a college club at WWU where she went for a BA in English Education. She currently lives near Gig Harbor, works as a tutor and homeschool English teacher, and enjoys bicycling on flat trails. She’s the mom of two college-age daughters who are both into engineering and who don’t like Star Wars, fencing, or Shakespeare, which means her brainwashing efforts failed. Tyrean is an indie author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, and has had over 100 short works published. She’s a volunteer admin for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a member of the SCBWI, and a volunteer podcaster for One Hope Church. She’s on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and has a blog at https://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.com/ <https://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.com/>Her newest novella, Liftoff, was something she wrote to entertain herself during early quarantine, a “popcorn movie” style YA novella she hopes will be fun for readers, too. Writing for RemembranceWednesday, June 16, 6 p.m. $5. Registration is Required <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-for-remembrance-tickets-149263014695>. <https://creativecolloquy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_1881-scaled.jpeg> A workshop of self exploration through writing. Writing will be focused on remembering, voicing your needs and desires, taking responsibility, supporting growth, and defining self. This will be an opportunity to tell your story and also to tell the story of how others have impacted you. *ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: * *Katherine Felts* is a biracial/Black poet who currently calls Tacoma home. She enjoys writing in many genres, but focuses most often on poems and creative nonfiction. She has performed with or at: First Night Tacoma, UW Tacoma, The Peoples Assembly and Creative Colloquy. She also sometimes hosts podcasts, emcees events and panels, and leads personal development workshops. *Stay up to date on Creative Colloquy programming throughout the year by following us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/CreativeColloquy/>, Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/creativecolloquy/?hl=en> or online at https://creativecolloquy.com. <https://creativecolloquy.com.> Creative Colloquy is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike. *