"Won't you come celebrate with me?" the immeasurably gifted Lucille Clifton asks in one of her most beloved poems.

The poem "won't you come celebrate with me" itself speaks to the intimate joy of survival and has inspired countless writers since its publication.

This workshop will explore the idea of holidays, how and why individuals choose to celebrate and memorialize events and the ways in which it is done. We will examine the impact holidays have on us --both the ones we love and the ones we do not. We will write new holidays and traditions into existence and rearrange some old ones. We will celebrate what and who we believe deserve celebration, including ourselves. 

Instructor: Siaara Freeman was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She began writing at 7-years-old and actively slamming at 15 for the National Brave New Voices Competition. She then entered the adult scene slamming and coaching for both Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio as well as Detroit, Michigan. A two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, a finalist for the 2017 Button Poetry Chapbook Competition, a 2017 Bettering American Poet and Best Of The Net Poet, a 2018 Winter Tangerine Chapbook Fellow, and a 2018 Poetry Foundation Incubator Fellow. Siaara is a four-year PinkDoor Fellow & 2018 PinkDoor Faculty member. She is a teaching artist for the Center For Arts Inspired Learning. She is the co-founder of Outsiders Queer Midwest Writers Retreat. She is the founder and curator of WUSGOOD.BLACK and the Black Hogwarts Poetry Workshop.