Suzanne Edison, MA, MFA

Poet • Educator

Events & Workshops

Below you'll find my posts about upcoming and past events and workshops. Also see descriptions of my workshops.

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The Words To Say It: Reading and Writing Poems about Illness, Trauma, & Healing

I’ll be teaching 2 sections of this 6 week course at Hugo House starting September 14th and September 15th. All of it on Zoom.

Registration is open.

The Words to Say It: Reading & Writing Poems about Illness, Trauma & Healing (ZOOM) Section I

The Words to Say It: Reading & Writing Poems about Illness, Trauma & Healing (ZOOM) Section II

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In the Time of Virus–Part 2–Writing Workshop

I know we are all feeling anxious and uncertain. Unknowns are hard to deal with. In spite of this many people are still making art; some of it related to the Coronavirus.

I am still going to teach The Words to Say It: Writing & Reading about Illness, Trauma and Healing workshop through The Writers Workshoppe in Port Townsend but it will be done virtually through Zoom. There are still spaces available.

Stay safe, stay home, find your own creative expressions and enjoy some down time.

Suzanne

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Writing as a Righting Journey-San Francisco/Oakland–2020

Saturday, April 18th  and Sunday, April 19th, 2020

9 am – 1 pm ( each day )

Workshops are free.

  • I’ll be teaching 3-4 writing workshops over the coming year in both San Francisco and Oakland for parents of kids (young children, teens, or young adults) living with a chronic illness. These 4 hour workshops are sponsored by The Chronic Illness Center at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
  • For information about locations, please contact me @ suzanne.edison@curejm.org and I’ll be happy to correspond with you. Or contact the CIC directly.
  • For information about the format of the workshop, go here.

Thank you, Suzanne

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The Words To Say It: Writing & Reading Poems about Illness, Trauma, & Healing

Suzanne Edison portrait

I’ll be teaching a 2 day workshop in Port Townsend. Come join me at The Writers Workshoppe.

Dates: Saturday and Sunday, April 4th and 5th
Time: 10:00am to 3:00pm
Cost: $170
Limited to: 10 participants

“Story [or poetry] is both a primal, concrete way of ordering experience and also a way of opening the self to disorder. When lyric ceases to hide behind abstraction…and descend down into the chaos and specifics of the physical world to seek its meanings, it is another way that it has of making itself vulnerable to disorder.  …One of story’s primary purposes is to lay claim to experience. Autobiographical storytelling can take personal experience back from silence, shame, fear, or oblivion… By telling his or her story, the poet overcomes isolation and silence.” — Gregory Orr

​“The only way through pain…is to absorb, probe, understand exactly what it is and what it means. To close the door on pain is to miss the chance for growth…”- May Sarton

In this two day intensive workshop we will read and write poems about our experiences with illness, trauma and healing. These experiences are held in our bodies and we will engage in an initial centering exercise to help us focus. We will read poems with an eye and ear to understanding how emotions and experiences are captured and held in images, metaphors and narratives. I will provide you with prompts and structures for writing. There will be time to share and receive feedback on the second day of the workshop. You will come away with a better appreciation for how poetry can hold the often unspeakable and ineffable, and a couple of your own new drafts of poems or stories.  Some experience with poetry or writing is helpful but not required.