Over the past year, many of us have experienced overwhelming trauma. At times the individual and collective loss we carry feels too much to bear. As writers, we look for ways to express our pain and begin to make sense of it and heal. Never before has trauma writing been so needed. But what exactly is trauma writing? Why is it essential? And how can it lead to transformation? In this craft talk and workshop, poets Holly Karapetkova, Susan Mockler, and Kirsten Porter will explore the use of trauma writing as a vehicle for processing their pain and building resilience. The poets will share some of their work and offer writing prompts geared at helping participants to write from their trauma and embrace healing.
RSVP below, and you’ll receive an email with the link for joining the chat via our video conferencing platform, Zoom, plus a reminder email on the day of the event. FREE and open to the public, all times Eastern. Limited space.
Holly Karapetkova is the current Poet Laureate of Arlington, Virginia. Her poetry, prose, and translations have appeared recently in Southern Review, North American Review, Blackbird, and other places. She’s the author of two books of poetry, Towline and Words We Might One Day Say. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Comparative Literature and teaches at Marymount University.
Susan Bucci Mockler’s poetry has appeared in the Maximum Tilt Anthology, Pilgrimage Press, Crab Orchard Review, Poet Lore, The Northern Virginia Review, Gargoyle, The Delmarva Review, The Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Cortland Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Lunch Ticket, Voices in Italian Americana, and the anthology, My Cruel Invention, among others. She is also the author of the poetry chapbook, Noisy Souls, and was the writer in residence at the Manassas National Battlefield Park in 2020.
Kirsten Porter is a freelance editor, poet, professor, and guest lecturer. She earned an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University and has taught creative writing, composition, and literature studies at Marymount University. Porter’s poetry and teachings focus on women, cultural diversity, community, and the ability for all to repair what is broken in themselves and the world. Her poems have appeared in journals (Poet Lore, The Limberlost Review) and anthologies (This Is What America Looks Like, Voices of the Grieving Heart). Porter is the assistant to poet and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller and the editor of The Collected Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller, published by Willow Books. She resides in Northern Virginia with her five rescue dogs.