Do you ever wonder what happens behind the walls of a wastewater treatment plant? Would you like to set a mystery in Cleveland's prodigious sewer system? Are you the kind of person who is inspired to write poetry about gravity thickening or sludge incineration?
Join us for a unique writing workshop in collaboration with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Together we will learn evocative wastewater treatment terminology, take a tour of the Westerly Plant, look at examples of infrastructure influenced writing, and create our own shitty first drafts. This class is free but spots are limited so sign up now!
Instructors:
Laura Maylene Walter is the author of the debut novel Body of Stars, which was published by Dutton/Penguin Random House and Hodder Studio/Hachette UK in 2021. She is also the author of the short story collection Living Arrangements (BkMk Press, 2011), which won the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize and a national gold IPPY. Laura’s writing has appeared in Poets & Writers, Kenyon Review, Slate, The Sun, Ninth Letter, The Masters Review, Chicago Tribune Printers Row, Horse Girls (Harper Perennial, 2021), and many other publications. She has received fellowships, residencies, or grants from Tin House, Yaddo, the Ohio Arts Council, the Ohioana Library Association, the Chautauqua Institution, and Art Omi: Writers. Laura is a founding editor of Literary Cleveland’s Gordon Square Review and is the Ohio Center for the Book Fellow at Cleveland Public Library, where she hosts Page Count, a literary podcast.
Christine Umerley, PE, is a Project Engineer for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. As part of the Planning group, she is responsible for projects that evaluate and forecast future needs, as well as tracking compliance with NEORSD's 25-year Project Clean Lake program. In her free time, you can find Christine hunched over her novel draft, behind a podcast mic, or performing in the Greater Cleveland theater community.
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Details: Poo, Prose, and Flows: Connecting Cleveland’s Sewer Infrastructure to Your Creative Writing takes place Saturday, April 15 from 10am-1pm in person at NEORSD Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant (5800 Cleveland Memorial Shoreway).
Prerequisites: None
Genre: Multigenre
Level: All levels
Format: Plant tour, discussion, in-class writing exercises and sharing
Location: NEORSD Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant (5800 Cleveland Memorial Shoreway)
Size: Limited to 12 participants.
Suggested Sequence: Follow this class with a generative fiction writing workshop or feedback course.
