Nadia Colburn, "I Say the Sky: Poetry, Grieving, and Celebration: An Interactive Reading and Workshop"

Nadia Colburn will be at The Book Cellar for a reading and interactive writing workshop from her poetry collection, I Say The Sky! 

How do we find meaning, spirit, beauty, strength, even in difficult times? Poetry can help us connect mind and body to probe into the unsaid and offer spaces of both healing and celebration.In this interactive reading and writing workshop, poet and beloved teacher Nadia Colburn will read from her award-winning poetry book I Say the Sky, will offer short guided meditation, writing prompts and discussion. Participants will be led toward a deeper understanding of their own multi-faceted experiences and given tools to shape that into a poem. 

The writer Camille T Dungy, author of  Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden has said of I Say the Sky: "From the opening poem and on through this glorious book, Nadia Colburn strikes the difficult balance between celebrating the splendor of the world we inhabit and acknowledging the grief and devastation that none of us can escape. As much a book of love songs as a book of elegies, I Say the Sky is a heart opening and mind sharpening collection."From personal traumas, illnesses and losses to the climate crisis, social injustice and inequality, there is much that needs healing. But there is also much to incite wonder. Poetry can be a space of both: Poetry is particularly effective at probing spaces that otherwise are left unnamed and unsaid. It also helps readers and writers focus their attention, be more present, and integrate mind and body through image, sound, meaning. And it invites us into unexpected moments of joy.

Enjoy a restorative and empowering interactive evening. This presentation is suitable for people with any level of poetry experience. 

About I Say the Sky:

 
In poems at once profound and accessible, Nadia Colburn finds splendor and astonishment in a natural world—and a human world—that is deeply troubled yet still majestically beautiful. Both elegy and celebration, I Say the Sky addresses some of the most challenging aspects of human existence, from childhood trauma to environmental devastation, and discovers, in unexpected and clear-sighted ways, wisdom, wonder, and peace.

Colburn's brilliant second book charts a journey to meet the self. From girlhood to parenthood, loss to discovery, in poems that sing, the book explores how meaning is made. Claiming the female voice from silence, the poems find their grounding in the body and achieve rootedness and hope.

I Say the Sky is a meditative and ultimately inspiring book that will be savored by seasoned readers as well as those new to poetry.

About the Author: 

Nadia Colburn is the author of the poetry books I Say the Sky and The High Shelf, and her poetry and prose have appeared in more than eighty publications, including the New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, Spirituality & Health, Lion's Roar, and the Yale Review. She holds a PhD in English from Columbia University and is the founder of Align Your Story Writing School, which brings traditional literary and creative writing studies together with mindfulness, embodied practices, and social and environmental engagement. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children. Find her at nadiacolburn.com, where she offers meditations and free resources for writers.