Observational practice is a way of grounding your writing in close attention to the endlessly fascinating world of our most near-at-hand surroundings. In this Sunday afternoon workshop, refresh your view of the world, of language, of your own ideas and habits, and of writing itself! We will spend time walking, looking, drawing (even if you’re “not great at drawing”!), writing (even if you’re “not a writer”), thinking, talking, and making together.

 

Join Mia Ayumi Malhotra and Éireann Lorsung for exercises in sustained attention, and leave with new approaches to your writing and to the ordinary world. The workshop will be followed by a reading, open to the public, of poems that have arisen from the two writers' own observational practice work.

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About the Instructors:

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Éireann Lorsung works in a field of images, objects, movement, and texts. Her collections Music For Landing Planes By, Her book, and The Century are published by Milkweed Editions; Carcanet Press will publish Pattern-book in May 2025. She is a 2016 NEA Fellow and the 2025 Mary Routt Endowed Chair in Writing at Scripps College. 

 

Click here to learn more about Éireann.

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Mia Ayumi Malhotra is the author of Mothersalt (Alice James Books, forthcoming May 2025), Isako Isako (Alice James Books, 2018), and the chapbook Notes from the Birth Year (Bateau Press, 2022). She is a Kundiman Fellow and founding member of The Ruby SF, a gathering space for women and nonbinary artists. 

 

Click here to learn more about Mia.

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LEFT MARGIN LIT'S CANCELLATION/REFUND POLICY:

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If you find that you can't take a class for which you registered, you may request a refund, less a $25 administrative fee, at least 48 hours prior to the start of the first class session. If a class doesn't reach its minimum enrollment, it will be cancelled, and all students will receive full refunds.