The Sundress Academy for the Arts hosts the Sundress Workshop Series, a series of generative writing workshops emphasizing composition, revision, and creative development. As part of Sundress Publications, the Sundress Workshop Series provide focused and expert instruction to writers of all skill levels. Participants are treated to guidance from advanced instructors who help them to not only hone their craft but also opportunities to create and share new work.
Workshops
Joy? More Serious Than You Think
July 9th, 2025, 6:00-7:30PM EST
http://tiny.utk.edu/sundress
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Joy? More Serious Than You Think,” a workshop led by Jonny Teklit on Wednesday, July 9th from 6:00-7:30 PM EST. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).
We’re all familiar with the daily cruelties and horrors of the world we live in. It takes no effort to conjure them in the mind. Given the circumstances “at a time like this,” it can often seem like it’s impossible to write about joy. The reality, of course, being that it is always going to be a time like this.
Writing about joy, when done right, doesn’t shy away from these daily horrors. To do so would make it trite, a hollow platitude. Through examining poems from Lucille Clifton, Ross Gay, and Danez Smith this workshop aims to demonstrate how joy is not a naive, head-in-the-sand subject, but rather, as Ross Gay writes in Inciting Joy, a “serious” one; something that can be cultivated/relied upon in spite of and/or throughout periods of immense pain and tumult. Students will be shown a variety of ways to write about joy.
While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to Jonny Teklit via Venmo @jonnyteklit
Jonny Teklit is an award-winning poet who has had work appear in The Academy of American Poets, The New Yorker, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. His poems have been anthologized in Poemhood: Our Black Revival and The Gift of Animals: Poems on Love, Loss, and Connection. He earned his MFA at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is currently working on his debut collection. He has an animal fact for any occasion.
Multimedia Writing: Hybrid Prose/Poetry
August 13th, 2025, 6:00-7:30PM EST
http://tiny.utk.edu/sundress
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Multimedia Writing: Hybrid Prose/Poetry,” a workshop led by Emma Sheinbaum on Wednesday, August 13th from 6:00-7:30 PM EST. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).
This virtual workshop will be an introduction to multimedia writing, a hybrid genre that refers to writing in which multiple types of media are used in evocative, resonant, and innovative ways. We will unpack multimedia approaches through a range of forms including cine-poetry and collage using exploratory questions such as: How can incorporating other forms of media / a variety of elements beyond text enhance the intended impact of a poem? What questions, tensions, and complications can help guide you through the multimedia, hybrid creative process? In this workshop we will engage with form-ranging projects from writers including Victoria Chang, Claudia Rankine, Jennifer S. Cheng, Eloisa Amezcua, and more. The workshop will also provide time to free write and share work, to talk about how the writing process felt/went, and to share resources as well as further recommended reading.
While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to Emma Sheinbaum via Venmo: @emmasheinbaum
Emma Sheinbaum is a multi-genre writer and editor. Her writing has been published by Barrelhouse Magazine, Milk Press, TriQuarterly, Metatron Press, Juked, Cherub Magazine, The InQueery and Glass Mountain, among others. Emma also has an essay forthcoming in Cobra Milk. She is Co-Founding Editor of the genreless literary journal, A Velvet Giant. Emma enjoys teaching writing, walking in the woods, and chilling with her cat. Find more at www.emmasheinbaum.com.