The Poet's Forge

Date & Time: Every second Saturday from 3-4:30pm
Location: FPL Meeting Room
Audience: Adults
Host: Craig Deininger

The Poet’s Forge is a workshop that emphasizes craft—hence “forge” and its connotations with smithing—the actual work we do within and upon the substance of language. This emphasis does not omit the many subtler elements vital to poetry like inspiration, imagination, meaning and so on. Rather it simply holds the techniques of the craft as its primary focus.

The workshop is geared to those who are serious about developing their skill in composing poetry. The atmosphere will be professional and respectful, attending precisely to the poetry of the participants. Anyone interested in writing more poetically, regardless of experience, is quite welcome provide they are prepared to honor what their poetry has to say as its own autonomous entity, so to speak.

Auxiliary content on poetry and poetics will be included, but will not be prepared in advance. Rather, we will let the poetry that is on the table before us at any given moment determine our direction.

If you need special assistance to join this program due to a disability, please contact the FPL Front Desk at 641-451-6551 Ext. 1 or circ@fairfield.lib.ia.us.

About Craig Deininger 
Craig is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing & Literature at Maharishi International University. Before moving to Fairfield, Craig taught at Naropa University, Lees-McRae College, Studio Film School in Los Angeles, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing, served as an editor for the Juniper Prize for Poetry, and was Coordinator of the MFA’s Visiting Writers Series. He also earned an MA and PhD in Mythology and Jungian Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. His poetry has been published in several literary journals, anthologies, and newspapers, including The Iowa Review, Glyphs, Between, Moab Happenings, and Riverbend. He is a regularly featured writer for the Joseph Campbell Foundation, and his first book of poetry, Leaves from the World Tree, was recently published by Mandorla Books.