Events

Writing and Presenting Poetry in American Sign Language with Ryan Fingerle

(All Levels)

Alternating Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 PM PT, 4/17, 5/1, 5/15, 5/29, and 6/12/24, on Zoom.

ASL Poetry is a FREE community enrichment workshop open to all.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2024CWW

Do you want to write poetry but don’t know how? Would you like to express poetry in ASL, but you’re not sure where to begin?

Then come to this workshop! This introductory course is especially created for poetry lovers who want to learn how to write and present poetry in American Sign Language. It’s also for those who want to learn how to appreciate the art of poetry in both English and ASL. All are welcome – d/Deaf, HOH, and hearing – and an interpreter and closed captioning will be available.

In this course, participants will experience both written and visual poetry. The workshop has several aims: to increase the ways you can become more engaged and curious readers of poetry; to increase your confidence in writing poems through text in English and American Sign Language; and to provide you with the support and resources for writing and presenting poetry in ASL.

Ryan Fingerle is a Deaf writer, poet, and educator whose love of words has no boundaries. One of her works, “Stuck in the Middle,” was published in the 2021 MUSE Literary Magazine. She presented her English poem “Connected” in ASL in front of a live audience for a National Deaf History and Poetry Month event. Ryan holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing, and she is in the process of earning her M.A. from Southern New Hampshire University. She is a private tutor in English and Math, and her 10 years of experience – and passion – is helping her adult students and their families enjoy the merits of both ASL and the English language.

All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle

(Int.-Adv.)

Alternating Wednesdays, 6:00-9:00 PM PT, 4/10, 4/24, 5/8, 5/22, and 6/5/24, on Zoom

$50. Registration required.

https://tinyurl.com/Spring2024CWW

In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session.

Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer, with fiction and nonfiction published in literary journals and anthologies, including in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. A collection of her short fiction, Acts of Contrition, is available from Los Nietos Press and her chapbook, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans, is available from Bamboo Dart Press. Her YA novel about a teen escaping a polygamist cult is coming from Inlandia Books. Previously the managing editor of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, she helped to establish a yearly teen issue. In a previous life, she was a high school English teacher and librarian.