24PearlStreet Workshops and Events
LIVE via Zoom: 7pm-9pm (Eastern)
Laughter is a powerful social response that transforms ME feelings into WE experiences. It motivates humans (and even animals) to engage with each other and re-engage with increasingly complex environments. In their similarly intimate, imaginary spaces, poetry and comedy conjure laughter by way of surprise, increasing dopamine levels and all feelings by a whopping 400%.
In this generative writing workshop, we’ll discuss styles of humor (especially your style), theories of comedy, and tools that can move your reader from surprise to laughter to jaw-dropping awe. In every session, we’ll discuss a manageable selection of (funny) readings, videos, and audio recordings on the day’s topic. The materials will be accessible before the class begins, but students are not required to read them before class. You’ll be asked to write a new poem daily and give your colleagues feedback on their first drafts. As writers in every genre use the structures and styles of comedy to yield successful results, this class welcomes all writers.
Interested? Take the Humor Styles quiz here:
https://www.idrlabs.com/humor-styles/test.php
Biography
Jennifer L. Knox is the author of five books of poems: Crushing It, Days of Shame & Failure, The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway, Drunk by Noon, and A Gringo Like Me. Known for their dark, imaginative humor, her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Granta, McSweeney’s, five times in The Best American Poetry series, and The 2022 Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses anthology. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. She has taught poetry writing classes at New York University, Hunter College, 24PearlStreet FAWC, and the Iowa Summer Writers Festival. Jennifer lives in central Iowa, where she is the proprietor of a tiny spice blend company called Saltlickers.
