24PearlStreet Workshops and Events
ASYNCHRONOUS
In this workshop, we will discuss how prose narratives can benefit from poetic techniques, how expanding the use of poetic principles—from metaphor to repetition, space, juxtaposition, accrual, lists, and rhyme—can deepen the experience of writing and reading creative nonfiction. What is the lyric essay? How can we use a “volta” to surprise ourselves and our readers? This generative class will be a discussion of craft at the line level. We will do writing exercises and create several “after” drafts for you to share with the class and develop when our time together is done.
Biography
Deborah Jackson Taffa’s debut book, Whiskey Tender, has received advanced praise from the following outlets: Zibby Mag “Most Anticipated Book,” San Francisco Chronicle “New Book to Cozy Up With,” Publishers Weekly “Memoirs & Biographies: Top 10," The Millions “Most Anticipated,” and Electric Lit “Books by Women of Color to Read." With fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in Prose (2024), PEN America, MacDowell, Rona Jaffe, and the NY State Summer Writer’s Institute, Taffa received her MFA from the NWP at the University of Iowa. A member of the Yuma Nation and Laguna Pueblo, she is the director of the MFA CW program at the Institute of American Indian Arts and splits her time between Saint Louis, MO, and Santa Fe, NM.
