Sundress Academy for the Arts Presents “Word/Play: A Generative Poetry Workshop”

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Word Play: led by Aerik Francis

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Word/Play: A Generative Poetry Workshop,” a workshop led by Aerik Francis on Wednesday, December 10th 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)

Wordplay is time traveling: it is an opportunity to explore the history of words and languages while also crafting new futures and directions for words and language. Wordplay can bring fun
and pleasure back into the craft of writing. Words can also enact dramatic plays, exploring the
nuances of language using sound and employing multiple meanings at once.

This generative writing poetry workshop is an invitation to play with words and engage critically with craft. We will begin with an opportunity to sandbox and play with language based on impulse and intuition. Then, after our warm up writing activity where we will gather a bank of words and sounds, we will spend the workshop discussing tools and poetry related to wordplay with a special focus on homonyms, homophones, and puns.

We’ll draw inspiration from work by authors like Christina Sharpe, Evelyn Berry, Franny Choi, Emily Pérez, and Haryette Mullen before experimenting on our own. By the end of the workshop, we’ll all hopefully have seedlings of poetic writing for future work and more craft tools to bring back into our own craft practices.

While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to Aerik Francis via Venmo at @Aerik-Francis or via Paypal at aerfrancis@gmail.com.

A Black Latinx person stands in front of a wooden fence and smiles while looking off into the distance. They are wearing glasses with blue frames, a denim jacket, and a white shirt with red flowers on it. They are bald with a dark beard.

Aerik Francis is a Queer Black Latinx poet born & based on the lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples currently known as Denver, Colorado, USA. Aerik wants us to come together and gum up the gears of the machinery of the empire toward all of our collective liberation. Their poetry chapbook MISEDUCATION (New Delta Review 2023) can be purchased online or in person, and their newest poetry chapbook BODYPOLITIC is forthcoming with Abode Press in 2026. Find more of their work on their website phaentompoet.com or via social media @phaentompoet.

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

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