Kate Partridge: Writing workshops you won't want to miss

I’m delighted to
have the opportunity to introduce myself as a new instructor for 49 Writers
this fall! I will be teaching a four-week course called Fundamentals of Poetry,
as well as Writing from Research, which will occur across two weekends.
I earned my MFA
in poetry from George Mason University, just outside of Washington, D.C., where
I taught and served as editor-in-chief of the feminist literary journal So to Speak. My partner (also a poet)
and I moved to Anchorage in mid-August, and I’ve been having a great deal of
fun exploring the coffee shops and getting settled in as an instructor in the
English Department at UAA. Now that I’m here and own an SUV the size of an
elephant, I’m so excited to get involved with the literary community in
Anchorage. In addition to teaching two courses through 49 Writers, I’ll be
co-coordinating the Crosscurrents series this year, which is planning
some truly excellent events.
My interest in
teaching Writing from Research stems from my own poetry, in which I frequently
collage material from historical and contemporary texts or use them as the
basis for narrative. This summer, I spent many afternoons scrolling through
microfilm at the Library of Congress while gathering text from the Whitman
notebook archive for a new series of poems; the process of putting together source
material is as much fun for me, and as much of a challenge, as any of the other
stages of the writing process. My work has been influenced by writers like
Marianne Moore, Anne Carson, Brian Teare, and C.D. Wright, all of whom engage
with text, hybrid forms, and research in ways that inspire me to find new ways
to incorporate different textures of language into my work. 
In Writing from
Research, we’ll discuss a range of uses for research, including accurately
depicting settings, adding detail, and learning about historical characters or
events. We’ll also visit an archive and practice effectively incorporating
source materials into stories, essays, and poetry. I’m excited to have the
chance to grapple together with the many challenges of finding and using
researched materials, for any of the myriad reasons you will want to draw on
them for your writing.
I am also
thrilled to be teaching Fundamentals of Poetry. This course will incorporate a
balance of short exercises, workshop, readings, and craft discussions, all of
which will build toward improving your writing skills and your facility with
reading and discussing poetry. My major goals for these sessions are to
introduce and experiment with traditional and experimental forms and to produce
lots of drafts. As a classroom community of writers, we will move through
process of inspiration, drafting, and revision in detail, and everyone will
have the opportunity to employ the techniques we discuss to improve your own
poetry. I’d encourage you to think about joining in, whether you write a sonnet
every day or you’ve never written one at all.
I’m very much looking
forward to becoming part of the community of writers in Anchorage and to
meeting many of you in the upcoming weeks. Please do sign up if you have an
interest in these classes or the other course offerings this fall!  
Kate Partridge received her MFA in poetry
from George Mason University and lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where she is an
instructor at UAA. Her poems have appeared or are
forthcoming in
BLOOM, Barrelhouse, RHINO, and burntdistrict, among
others.
Visit our website to sign up for her workshops.
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