*Covid-19 Update: This spring, the Library’s programs will continue to meet virtually, via Zoom. Please check eLibris or our programs calendar for updates and line-up. This event is limited to Library members and requires advance reservation. Please use this form to sign up.

Register here!

 Join us for a Writing Workshop with Laura Cronk (Poetry, Nonfiction, and Open Genre)

What would you say if you could speak directly to a former apartment, to a powerful leader, to your alarm clock, to time itself?

The classic poetic device of apostrophe, or direct address, can be uniquely productive for both poets and prose writers, leading us into discovery and unexpected connection. This generative session provides an opportunity to experiment with apostrophe and the idea of the ode. As Kenneth Koch, an American poet with an affinity for Paris, did in his book New Addresses, we’ll aim to surprise ourselves by writing directly to who and what haunts us, delights us, and has shaped us. Open to writers of any genre.

Workshop Agenda:

Introduction & conversation with Joydeep Sengupta 

Presentation of ode examples 

Two timed writing sessions of ten minutes each

Reflection and optional sharing with class

Laura Cronk is the author of two books of poems, Ghost Hour and Having Been an Accomplice from Persea Books. She is the chair of undergraduate writing at The New School in New York City where she teaches courses on pedagogy and creative practice. More information at lauracronk.org.

Joydeep Sengupta is a corporate lawyer who moved to Paris from New York City, and a member of the American Library in Paris. He fully agrees with one of his law school teachers who once told him, “Behind every great lawyer are the ruins of a poet.”