Eline Lipkin – Writing in the Blanks

Workshop Description:

This class is for anyone who has wondered what to put inside their beautiful, yet blank, book and who wants to jumpstart their writing. Through generative writing exercises, students will be exposed to poetic forms such as the monostitch, haiku, haibun, burning haibun, erasure, “six-word memoir,” abecedary, and the lune. There will be time for freewriting, revision, and sharing.

We will consider parallels between the poem and the artist’s book and look at how white space functions as an ‘active blank’ in which emotion can resonate; how stanza breaks serve as a container, just as a book page or section might; how font, point size, and physical arrangement can impact meaning; and how “VisPo” (visual poetry) interconnects these genres.

While exploring how text can intermarry with form, augment intention, and add dimension to the artists’ book, we will also see how writing can prompt a new book arts project. 

Materials/equipment to be provided by students:

• Pens and paper

Optional Materials:

• Students are welcome to bring their own books or mock-ups of their projects to work with.

Materials/equipment to be provided by instructor:

• I will provide handouts with examples of different types of poems —both examples of a certain form and step by step instructions about how to follow this form. I will also show images of various artists’ books as we consider how text functions within them. I always like to give students a take away list of writing prompts to use in the future and offer the possibility of keeping in touch—either with myself to encourage a later check in to show the development of their project or with the group, if the group is amenable.

Instructor Biography:

Elline Lipkin is a poet, nonfiction writer, and academic. Her first book, The Errant Thread was chosen by Evan Roland for the Kore Press First Book Award. Her second, Girls’ Studies, was published by Seal Press. Her poetry has been published in contemporary journals and she has been in residence at Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, and Yefe Nof. She served as Writer in Residence at Paper and Book Intensive (PBI). She teaches creative writing workshops and from 2016-2018 was the Poet Laureate of Altadena and edited the Altadena Poetry Review.

Website: www.EllineLipkin.com