2017 – 2018 RQ Writing Academy Schedule
The Reading Queer Writing Academy aims to inspire and prepare members of the queer community to tap into the powerful potential inherent to the act and the art of writing. Consisting of a series of distinct workshops spread out throughout the calendar year, the Academy will serve as a platform for writers of all walks of life to explore, pursue and perfect the craft in its myriad forms. As an expression of our conviction that writing is a right, not a privilege, all workshops are open to the general public regardless of an individual’s ability to pay.
All Reading Queer workshops are free and open to the public. However, we depend on your donations to support our programming.
05.13.2017 | “WRITING FOR LIBERATION” with Lutze Segu
DATE: MAY 13, 2017 from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
LOCATION: O CINEMA WYNWOOD @ 90 NW 29TH AVENUE MIAMI, FL 33127. Map here.
COST: FREE. Donations appreciated. Donate here.
DESCRIPTION: Who would you be if you could radically decenter the white heteropatriarchal gaze? The most insidious act of violence white supremacy inflicts is it robs us of our imagination. White supremacy is a fight that first begins in the mind. A world where Black lives truly matters, a world where the gender binary is dismantled, and a world where all bodies are worthy of love and having their basic needs met can exist, if we can cultivate these worlds in our creative minds. This workshop is for writers and aspiring writers who want to decolonize their thinking and pluralize the concept of freedom. In using an intersectional framework and series of writing prompts writers will wrestle with the question: what does it mean to be a QTPOC and thrive against the backdrop of white supremacy?
LUTZE B. SEGU is a native of Miami and a first-generation Haitian-American. She is an alum of Florida Memorial University the only historical Black college in Miami. She majored in English Literature and credits FMU for politicizing and fostering her #BlackGirlMagic. Lutze holds a Masters in Social Work from Barry University, but she is #notyouraveragesocialworker. For the past five years she has been practicing social work that is rooted in Black Feminism, Queer Theory, and Critical Race Theory. She is also an activist, writer, curator of sociopolitical spaces, organizer, and social justice practioner. In the fall Lutze is moving to Vancouver, Canada to attend the University of British Columbia to pursue a doctoral degree in Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice.
06.10.2017 | “I TALK TO MY BODY: A QUEER AND TRANS POETRY WORKSHOP FOR TRANS ART” with E. Parker Phillips
DATE: JUNE 10TH, 2017
LOCATION: TBA
COST: FREE. Donations appreciated. Donate here.
DESCRIPTION: The body is a site of identity, but often does not represent an internal, felt sense of self, especially for transgender and gender non-conforming people. On the other hand, processes of self-acceptance and/or transition can transform the body as a place of dysphoria into one of self-expression. In this workshop, we will explore, from a queer and transgender perspective, the tradition of a “soul” or speaker addressing the body in a poem. In the first part of the class, we will read and discuss the poems “I Talk to My Body,” by Anna Swir, “homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton and “Letter to My Body” by Joy Ladin. Following our discussion, participants will be given writing prompts, guiding them to address their body while centering (Celebrating! Bemoaning! Both! ) queerness and/or transness.
E. PARKER PHILLIPS is a writer and non-binary femme based in Miami, Florida. Parker has taught two previous poetry workshops for Reading Queer, one also in conjunction with Trans Art. Parker co-founded and co-hosts Queer and Trans Yoga at Agni Miami. Parker’s poems have appeared in Voluble (A LARB channel), The Sensations Feelings Journal, Jai-Alai Magazine, Hinchas de Poesia, Tigertail’s collection of work by the Miami Poetry Collective, and assorted cent journals. Parker has also performed at The Miami Book Fair as well as BFI’s Weird Miami Bus Tour.
06. 30th .2018 | “BOOT CAMP” with Jan Becker
DATE: JUNE 30th, 2018 from 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
LOCATION: VILLAIN THEATER @ 5865 NE 2ND AVE MIAMI, FL 33137. Map here.
COST: FREE. Donations appreciated. Donate here.
DESCRIPTION: Lace up your combat boots; we’re recruiting for an army of fierce writers. “BOOT CAMP FOR QUEER WRITERS” with Jan Becker is an intensive, prompt-driven poetry and flash nonfiction workshop. The term ‘boot camp’ may sound intimidating, but the only real order is, “permission to write freely.” This workshop is designed to liberate writers from their individual closets and get their words down on the page. The fast-paced writing drills disengage writers from that nagging, negative voice that plagues and prevents us from accessing what poet Maria Mazziotti-Gillan calls “the wise person who lives within our bellies.” Join us for the third iteration of what has proven to be a productive, empowering experience for writers from beginning level to published. RSVP HERE:
JAN BECKER is from a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania. She didn’t stay there very long. She grew up in a Marine Corps family, on military bases all over the United States. She is currently an MFA candidate at Florida International University, and has taught courses there in composition, technical writing, creative writing and poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Jai-Alai Magazine, Colorado Review, Emerge, Brevity Poetry Review, Sliver of Stone, and the Florida Book Review. She is the 2015-2016 Writer in Residence at the Girls’ Club Collection in Fort Lauderdale, and winner of the 2015 AWP Intro Journals Award in Nonfiction.
01.27.2018 | “VISUAL STORYTELLING” with Shoog McDaniel
DATE: JANUARY 27TH, 2018 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
LOCATION: THE LIGHT BOX @ GOLDMAN WAREHOUSE @ 404 NW 26TH ST, MIAMI, FL 33127. Map here.
COST: FREE. Donations appreciated. Donate here.
DESCRIPTION: Shoog McDaniel, author of Queers in Nature, will give exclusive insight about their photographic history, creative process, and what compelled them to make the book. Following the insight will be a reading, and discussion on the connections of queer people and nature– as reflected through the featured text and imagery.
Participants will then be asked to pair up, and be given the prompt:
“Pretend you are going to be in a book similar to Queers in Nature, how would you like to be portrayed?Create a photo using your phone, with the help of a partner, to reveal something about yourself that you want others to know about you– everyone harbors places in their personality they don’t let come to light in every day interactions. Individuals can use and share props, think about lighting, location, facial expression, angles, colors, etc. After creating the photos and using projected prompts, write a few paragraphs about your images. Optional: If there is time, you can email Shoog your favorite photo and project it. You can then choose to read your corresponding writing.”
SUPPLIES TO BRING: Participants may bring props such as fabrics, flowers, costumes, jewelry, driftwood, shells, beads, or other personal items or artifacts. Some props will be provided by Shoog McDaniel.
SHOOG McDANIEL is a southern, queer, non-binary, fat photographer and artist living in Gainesville, Florida. “I have been taking photos since high school, when a friend of mine dumpster dove 200 disposable cameras from behind a Walgreens. I became obsessed, and began documenting everything. I now shoot with a Canon Rebel t3i, and have yet to take a break from capturing intimate moments and beautiful people in my everyday life. My work is about highlighting bodies and lives that are often overlooked by popular society. I enjoy photographing fat bodies, trans bodies, and queer bodies. People`with gap-toothed smiles and missing buttons. I capture images of my friends. With little exceptions, I have a connection with the humans in my photos and I intend to show that through the intimacy of my portraits. I strive to connect the viewer of each photo to beauty within themselves, through understanding the brilliancy of diversity, by showing them that there are many ways to be beautiful.”
02.10.2018 | “COME IN CHARACTER: A DEVELOPMENT WRITING WORKSHOP” with April Dobbins
DATE: FEBRUARY 10TH, 2018 from 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
LOCATION: THE LIGHT BOX @ GOLDMAN WAREHOUSE @ 404 NW 26TH ST, MIAMI, FL 33127. Map here.
COST: FREE. Donations appreciated. Donate here.
DESCRIPTION: When writing diverse characters, how do you stay true to their authentic voices? Oftentimes, stereotypes and one-dimensional representations can taint your own creative well. This workshop is for writers and aspiring writers who are grappling with a character and could benefit from existing and performing in that character’s skin.
WHAT TO BRING: Come in character! Bring a 1-4 page draft of a monologue written in your character’s voice. You will read as your character for the group, and we will do a number of creative exercises to help you build a fully realized, fictitious being. This exercise will help creatives jump into the minds of their creations, which will aid in developing dynamic and more complex voices. We will examine character development in film and literature and experiment with ways to build developed personas with a focus on characters who are queer and/or of color.
APRIL DOBBINS is a photographer, writer, and filmmaker. She was one of four filmmakers selected to screen her work at Sundance’s 2016 Documentary Film Rough Cuts Lab in Miami, and she is also a 2017 Sundance Institute Knight Fellow. Her films have screened at festivals across the U.S. An alumna of the prestigious Rittenhouse Writers Group, she did a TED talk on her work as a photographer and filmmaker for TEDxGrinnell in 2015, and she has been tapped to do a second TED talk for TEDxUMiami in 2017. Her documentary film project, Alabamaland, is an ongoing exploration of African-American culture in the rural South. She is a recipient of the S. J. Weiler Fund Award, which is made in recognition of exemplary artistic achievement and creativity in the visual arts as well as significant contributions to the arts community, and Cannonball Miami’s 2016 WaveMaker Grant.