Discover the Paper Playground
Open Zine + Chapbook Station
One of the coolest things at the Poetry Festival is the Paper Playground—a site of various workshops and discussions about how to make zines, chapbooks, broadsides, cards, and other forms that broadcast poetry in impactful ways. Various presenters will help guide the use of materials that will be available in the space for poets of all ages to explore the paper page. There will be typewriters, paper, pens, markers, staplers, and anything else you might need to put your poetry in the way of people! Along the way we’ll talk about methods of dissemination, how to get your works into the world in meaningful ways. We’ll also learn some of the history of efforts to distribute poetry in Grand Rapids.
Fascilitators
Donna Munro
Donna Munro has performed in Grand Rapids with the Twilight Tribe Activist Poets Association, as well as in Detroit, Cleveland, and New York. She's had work in Buncha Wimps Afraid to Die and Art Spontaneously Combusting. Her books include Animal Dreams, Holy Hell, And The Last Frontier. She was the editor of Big Fish magazine, 1992-1995.
Quey
I'm Quey, also known as Soliloquey, with an E—a fruity girl in a fruity world. Black African-American. I have a mild obsession with zines, cucumber salads, Iron Chef, and Docheii. Currently, chasing sobriety and falling in queer love.
And having an existential crisis is my part-time job or full-time life, depending on the day of the week. I graduated with a degree in journalism and creative writing and realized too late that poetry couldn't pay the bills, so I work my 9-to-5 and create poetry zines on the side, allowing me to pay for the WiFi that lets me express my witty hate for all things fascists and racist on Beyoncé’s internet.
David Cope
David will talk about the history and insights from the publication of Big Scream magazine.
Workshops
There are workshops during the day which will also reflect on zine making, and other formats of distributing poems.
11:15am - 12:00pm
Lyrical Questions
Found Poetry Workshop
Facilitator: Camille Newsom
"Lyrical Questions" engages participants in connecting with one another and their innate creativity. Participants will first be invited to brainstorm lyrical questions-- questions about their own lives that are poetic, songlike, non-literal, and go beyond typical paired expectations of questions and answers. Then, participants will work with the questions in small groups on a hands-on activity involving elements of collage, found poetry, and reciprocity. The exercise behind this workshop was originally designed by Indiana poet Ross Gay and will be facilitated by Camille Newsom.
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Make Your Mark
Zine Workshop
Facilitator: Rosie Accola
Explore the overlapping textures of collage and poetry in this interactive workshop. Participants will make their own eight page zine which they can fill with poems, collages, drawings and more! We'll have writing exercises and scraps galore, come see what you can piece together! This workshop is family friendly and appropriate for kids and teens.
