Led by poet Tim Seibles, this workshop will briefly examine a few poems that address the experience of living with skin color in this society, then participants will discuss the need for and potential of such writing. This will be followed by writing exercises that will facilitate honest engagement with the subject from many perspectives. Because all of us are affected by racialized thinking, it is Tim’s hope that people from all across the color spectrum will attend.

Seibles, born in Philadelphia in 1955, is the author of several poetry collections including Hurdy-Gurdy, Hammerlock and Buffalo Head Solos. His first book, Body Moves (1988), has just been re-released by Carnegie Mellon University. Press as part of their Contemporary Classics series. His latest, Fast Animal, was one of five poetry finalists for the 2012 National Book Award. Most recently, he received the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award for Fast Animal, given triennially for a collection of poems.

He has been a workshop leader for Cave Canem, a writer’s retreat for African American poets, and for the Hurston/Wright Foundation, another organization dedicated to developing black writers. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia, where he is a member of the English and MFA in writing faculty at Old Dominion University.