DEVELOPING YOUR POETRY MANUSCRIPT

In this session, award-winning poet, author and editor Pauletta Hansel will discuss the development of a poetry manuscript. Attributed to Robert Frost is the statement, “If you have a book of twenty-four poems, the book itself should be the twenty-fifth.”  The focus of discussion will be bringing poems into a strong relationship with each to create that cohesive whole, including the writing of poetic sequences.

ADVANCE WORK

For an in-group writing prompt, have available a poem you’ve written on a subject, or in a setting, or using images that still feel juicy to you, that you would like to further explore. This poem will become “starter dough” for other poems. (Note: this won’t be a revision exercise; the original poem will remain unchanged.)

About the Presenter

Pauletta Hansel’s nine poetry collections include Heartbreak Tree,a poetic exploration of the intersection of gender and place in Appalachia, and Palindrome was winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award for poetry. Pauletta’s writing is featured in Oxford American, Rattle, and Poetry Daily, among others. Pauletta was the 2022 Writer-in-Residence for The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, previously having served as Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate (2016-2018), Thomas More University’s first Writer in Residence (2012-2015), and WordPlay Cincy’s first Writer in Residence (2015-2016).  She is past managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary publication of Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative, and served as guest editors for the 2021 Lexington Poetry Month Anthology and Now and Then Magazine, among others.

MORE

Books: Heartbreak Tree  https://madvillepublishing.com/product/heartbreak-tree-poems/ and list of all books here:  https://paulettahansel.wordpress.com/books/

Pauletta’s upcoming programs:  https://paulettahansel.wordpress.com/programs/retreats-workshops/

Tennessee programs: Keynote speaker at Mildred Haun Conference:  https://www.facebook.com/MildredHaun 

Virtual and live workshops at The Porch (Nashville), February-April:  https://www.porchtn.org/workshops (and on Pauletta’s website)

Upcoming Readings:  https://paulettahansel.wordpress.com/programs/upcoming/

Recorded Readings:  https://paulettahansel.wordpress.com/recorded-readings/