Explore the Landscape Within: A Creative Writing Workshop for Photographers and Writers

Photographer and filmmaker Agnes Varda said, “If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes. If we opened me up, we’d find beaches.” In this generative three-week online workshop with Elizabeth Jacobson, participants open themselves up to story and the essence of human song, exploring the narrative and the lyric in three different creative writing genres: poetry, memoir, and lyric essay. 

We read poems and short prose pieces by a range of writers, including Jamaica Kincaid, Joy Harjo, Natalia Ginsburg, Viviane Gornick, Sei Shonagon, Terrance Hayes, Chloe Cooper Jones, Cold Mountain, Diane Seuss, Jake Skeets, Marilyn Nelson, Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, and Barry Lopez. 

In addition to group sessions that encompass conversations about craft, discussions of reading material, and writing from prompts, participants are given several opportunities to share work in group critiques. A week before the workshop begins, you are provided with a reading packet, and at-home writing assignments are offered each session.

You are encouraged to write in whatever genre inspires you, perhaps trying something different. This practice is intimate and vigorous, inviting a deep exploration of the personal landscapes within. As you gain new resources, insights, perspectives, and tools to support you on your creative journeys, you discover why so many people find the writing process to be therapeutic and joyful.