By Mike Templeton
On Saturday, July 26 from 2-4 pm at the Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum, you will have a rare opportunity to hone your writing and poetic craft with two of urban Appalachia and greater Cincinnati’s finest writers. You are invited to participate in the Home Shores Creative Writing Workshop which will include the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition’s Core member and the Carnegie Artist in Residence Sherry Cook Stanforth and Cincinnati’s most recent Poet Laureate Richard Hague. This will be a day for “writing camaraderie and high-energy invention.” Both writers and poets will offer writing prompts and guidance to inspire and lead participants toward creative work that can only come from a community of writers and the inspiration of two of our finest. Tea and pastries will be included in the $25 fee. Registration is required, and the link is below.
Home Shores Creative Writing Workshop is the creation of Sherry Cook Stanforth. She explains that her idea and purpose was to find and explore connections in moments of inspiration that link our current experiences with memories or ideas with distant homeplaces. The lines of connection between our current urban Appalachian lives and the homeplaces are profound for many people. Even those of us for whom the connection crosses generations and may not have a link through our own memories are still establishing ties via the imagination and inspiration. This is precisely the thing Sherry hoped to tap into. As she says, “my idea is to inspire people to share and explore what is familiar to them regarding a home place—and what may be different, too. For example, when I see red dirt flecked with mica in North Georgia or parts of Tennessee, I feel a “home” connection even though I grew up around here, a child one generation removed from Urban Appalachian migration.” The goal, then, is to find these points of connection and imaginative links and explore them through poetry in a group setting.
Richard Hague has just assumed his new role as Poet Laureate of Cincinnati, and his contribution to this event is a rare opportunity for writers. Readers may recall our review of Hague’s most recent collection of poetry, Continued Cases. If you are at all familiar with the poetry and creative nonfiction of Richard Hague, you know that his work can hold the edge between the traditional rural images of Appalachian life and the deeply industrial experiences of one who grew up in the northern parts of the Appalachian region. In a recent conversation, Hague told me that he carries those memories of the industrial region, “but so much of my life was spent in the woods near my home of Steubenville. The natural world is just as important to my work as the industrial world of my youth.” These are the kinds of experiences and connections participants can expect to take inspiration from as they work at weaving their own experiences into their poetry.
Sherry Cook Stanforth has been working for quite some time at establishing working relationships between the Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum and UACC. These partnerships are what led to the creation of the Home Shores events. Cook Stanforth explained that “the last time I offered this particular workshop (2023), Kari Gunter Seymour was my featured guest. This time, I’m offering Home Shores together with Dick Hague, my longtime companion in creative, water-related projects (Riparian and Tributaria anthologies and the Community of Creative Writers Retreat at the Thomas More University Biology Field Station). While we love collaborating on a wide variety of themes, I know in my heart of hearts that we will somehow end up ‘wading into water’ together again!” Again, the team of Hague and Cook Stanforth offer such a unique opportunity for writers and poets. The wealth of experience this duo brings to this event is unparalleled.
Nearly everything Sherry Cook Stanforth does is always toward the creation and support of community. While the named purpose is poetry and working with fellow poets and writers, underneath, it is all geared toward the ways communities are supported. The shared purposes of UACC and the Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum are, as she says, “the desire to serve the community through rich interpretations of storytelling and historical experiences. I’m honored to be a steward of their missions and to gather people together from their various corners for creative invention and sharing.” This event has the added benefit of bringing in Cook Stanforth’s other UACC project, Place Keepers, and supporting their work. She told me that she is “excited, too, about including Place Keepers apprentices as collaborators in this event. The take-home writing prompts they design and the perspectives they share within writing (or other) circles are focally inspiring—evidence of my strongly held belief that intergenerational wisdom exchanges lend some of the most impactful energy and insight to not only the arts, but the moral imagination we hope to cultivate as community servants.” Participants will be working together, with experienced poets, and building community. Hard to imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.
The Urban Appalachian Community Coalition’s Core member Sherry Cook Stanforth, with Cincinnati Poet Laureate Richard Hague, will host Home Shores Creative Writing Workshop on Saturday, July 26 from 2-4 pm at the Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum. Again, this is a rare opportunity to hone your craft with two of greater Cincinnati’s finest poets, while sharing and developing your work with like-minded individuals toward the creation of poetic connections with homeplaces. The event is $25 per person. Tea and pastries will be served. Registration is at this link: thecarnegiecenterofcolumbiatus.regfox.com/home-shores-creative-writing-workshop.
Michael Templeton is a writer, and independent scholar. He is the author of The Chief of Birds: A Memoir published with Erratum Press and Impossible to Believe, published by Iff Books. He is also the author of Collected Apoems, forthcoming from LJMcD Communications and the awaiting of awaiting: a novella, with Nut Hole Publishing. Check out his profile in UACC’s Cultural Directory. He has published numerous articles and essays on contemporary culture and works of creative non-fiction as well as experimental works and poetry. He lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife who is an artist.