We’re just about a month away from the start of the 2012 Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. Space is still available for a few of our 2012 faculty. A reminder that the Conference runs for two, one-week segments this year. So (for instance) if you can’t make it July 8-15 to work with Ashley Capps, you could work with her July 15-22.

As of June 4, space is available in the following workshops (register online):

Gary Copeland Lilley [July 8-15]

“Your New Poems”
New poems. That’s right: a workshop and class that generates work, strong draft poems created and discussed by a roomful of writers. 

Ashley Capps [July 8-15 and July 15-22]

“Encyclopoetics: getting the world into our poems, with a focus on the art of paying attention”
The modes and habits of modern life are such that many of our daily experiences occur mechanically, their sensory element lost; we drift through coffee and traffic and see without seeing, hear without hearing, touch without feeling. But art can help us (and help us help others) to recover the sensations of life, and in our workshop, we will explore the capacity of poetry to renew our physical senses, to amplify the processes of perception, to promote mindfulness, to recuperate empathy and a sense of connectedness, and to restore wonder. 

Jennine Capó Crucet [July 8-15]

Sometimes, all that stands in the way of us working on our book projects is a little accountability. In this workshop, we’ll form a supportive and enthusiastic space where we’ll generate tons of new material and break through the dreaded writer’s block.