1 Session: Wednesday, April 19
6:30-8:00pm ET
Samiya Bashir

Samiya Bashir (she:her:’nem) is a poet, writer, librettist, performer, and multi-media poetry maker whose work, both solo and collaborative, has been widely published, performed, installed, printed, screened, experienced, and Oxford comma’d from Berlin to Düsseldorf, Amsterdam to Accra, Florence to Rome and across the United States. Sometimes she makes poems of dirt. Sometimes zeros and ones. Sometimes variously rendered text. Sometimes light. Bashir is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Field Theories, winner of the Oregon Book Award. Her latest, I Hope This Helps, is forthcoming in Spring 2025. Her honors include the Rome Prize in Literature and the Pushcart Prize, and grants and residencies from the New York State Council on the Arts, MacDowell, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and more. In addition to her books, Bashir has served as editor to national magazines and anthologies of literature and artwork. Her multimedia poetries burst the boundaries of video, installation, photography, collage, and environmental art, and has most recently been shown at Michigan State University, and in Portland, Oregon, and New York City.

This Master Class is one of inquiry and discovery through the practice of multimedia poetries, including audio, visual, digital, textural, hand-made, machine-made, and more. We examine the recent landscape of multimedia poetry to understand how it works, how and where it succeeds (and fails), and how the work being made might move us to push through traditional boundaries of form and genre and foster experimentation in our own poetry.

Participants will learn practical methods for integrating visual, audio, and digital elements into their poetry, expanding their creative toolkit for future projects. By discussing the work of poets and artists in the expanded field, participants will gain insights into how collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches can enrich their poetry. Participants will leave with hands-on exercises and prompts designed to fuel ongoing exploration of multimedia poetries, encouraging them to continue experimenting beyond the workshop.

Workshop Highlights:

• Expanded Understanding of Poetic Forms – Participants will explore how poetry can take on new life across various media, from audio and digital formats to handmade and machine-made works, broadening their concept of what poetry can be.

• Critical Analysis Skills – By examining the successes and limitations of contemporary multimedia poetries, participants will develop a critical lens to assess how different approaches enhance or challenge traditional poetic forms.

• Inspiration for Creative Experimentation – The class will encourage participants to push past conventional boundaries, inspiring them to experiment with blending mediums and genres to create their own innovative works.

Note: This class is priced on a sliding scale from $100 to $250 based on what you’re able to afford. If you are registering at an amount below the upper bound, please pay through our payment portal and forward your confirmation email to kate@theshipmanagency.com with a note that you are registering for this class.

Two full scholarship available for BIPOC writers, as well as two partial scholarships available. To apply, please fill out this form by Monday, April 7.