Khadijah Queen

Poets’ Prose / Prose for Poets: Planning a Prose Project

Saturday, Dec 13, 2025,1:00 to 2:15 p.m.

In this seminar we will discuss structures of different types of prose books, and how poets might use their particular strengths as well as new tools to plan a longer prose work. We will discuss planning and prewriting, scene development and the importance of setting, organization, mindset and creative obstacles, and resources for support during the often-messy process. While this is primarily nonfiction focused with attention to hybridity, all genres are welcome. There will be ample opportunity to write in class.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Morrison, Toni. “The Site of Memory.”; In Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of

Memoir, 2d ed., ed. William Zinsser. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995, 83-102.

https://puritan-magazine.com/files/brusert/files/2013/03/morrison_site-of-memory.pdf

Recommended Reading:

Brooks, Gwendolyn. Maud Martha. Chicago: Third World Press 1953/1992.

Hotchkiss, Sarah. “How to Write an Artist Statement.:; The Creative Independent, October 18, 2018. 

https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-write-an-artist-statement/

Myo Kyaw Myint, Thirii. “Becoming;” The Map Is Not (2020).

http://themapisnot.com/issue-vii-thirii-myo-kyaw-myint/#canvas