Sundress Academy for the Arts Presents: "Writing The Chronically Ill Body-Mind"

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Writing the Chronically Ill Body-Mind,” a workshop led by Chisom Okafor on Wednesday, June 18th from 6:00-7:30 PM EST. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).

In the poems we’ll read and the ones we’ll write, body and mind will meet. Drawing from our own experiences and the experiences of the people we love, we’ll reclaim narratives and break stereotypes surrounding the chronic condition. Our daily medications will become effective weapons and touchstones for description. We’ll wrest poetry from a place of pain, strength, or vulnerability. To help us do this, we’ll be immersing ourselves in a river of poets who explore medical deficiencies or blood conditions: Urvashi Bahuguna, Rachael Boast, Katie Farris, Kayo Chingonyi, Airea D. Matthews, Sarah Nichols, and Ada Limón. Finally, we’ll seek to answer the question: How does the chronically ill body-mind create power and occupy space in an ableist world?

Chisom Okafor is the author of Winged Witnesses (University of Nebraska Press, Forthcoming 2025) and the chapbook, All I Know About a Heavy Heart Is How to Carry It (Jacar Press), described by Jaki Shelton Green as “an interrogation of vulnerability through raw, fierce and unflinching energy.” He has received nominations for the CAAPP Book Prize, the Brunel Prize, Gerald Kraak Prize and Pushcart Prize. He has also received support from the Sundress Academy for the Arts (for the SAFTA residency) and Commonwealth Foundation. He presently lives in Tuscaloosa where he is an MFA in Creative Writing candidate at the University of Alabama.

While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to Chisom Okafor via Cashapp: $chisom47 or Paypal: kcokafor1@crimson.ua.edu.

This event is brought to you by a grant provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission.