In this full-day generative writing workshop, Artist-in-Residence Ivy Raff guides participants to learn or hone the Zen approach to writing as instructed by Natalie Goldberg. With the primary objective of clearing mental clutter and writing from “the bottom of the mind,” students will first learn the simple and effective concepts of Zen writing practice. We intersperse guided sitting and walking meditations with timed, prompted writings in pairs. We reconvene the full group to read and listen uncritically to each other’s work.

Open to all levels of writers and aspiring writers. Newly-published or prolific, casual, or committed, those who write only in private journals or carefully-crafted work emails...this workshop is perfect for anyone curious about expressing themself with the written word.

Materials. Minimal. Bring a notebook and fast-writing pen. A cushion for sitting meditation is optional and recommended. Select a boxed lunch from Roots as an add-on or bring your own.
This programming is supported in part by Creative West and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Workshop schedule.
11:00-11:30 AM - Welcome and introductions. How did you come to be here?
11:30-11:45 AM - Explanation of Zen writing practice concepts
11:45 AM-12:15 PM - Guided seated meditation
12:15-1:15 PM - Break into pairs for a series of short timed writings
1:15-1:45 PM - Lunch (Add-on available for a box lunch from Roots Zero Waste Market)
1:45-2:45 PM - Full group reading/listening to each other’s work
2:45-3:00 PM - Remarks and closing

Optional Extension (available in add-ons for $20 after you register)
3:00-4:00PM - Guided walking meditation on Boise River Greenbelt
4:00-4:45 PM - Break into pairs for short timed writings
4:45-5:45 PM - Full group reading/listening to each other’s work
5:45-6:00 PM - Closing meditation and remarks
Partial Scholarships available upon request to info@surelsplace.org.

BIOGRAPHY
After writing poetry privately for two decades, in 2021 Ivy Raff (Queens, New York) left a long career in technology and public policy to focus solely on writing. Since then, she’s written two poetry collections: Rooted and Reduced to Dust and What Remains/Que Queda, a bilingual English/Spanish translation which won 2nd place in the Dolors Alberola International Poetry Prize. Her heritage threads through her poetry. The two collections explore how a Bolshevik-influenced Jewish immigrant family in Amerika moves across time. Their granddaughter is a pro-woman, pro-Palestine writer working with complex individual and cultural histories of trauma, abuse, and healing.

Her individual poems and translations have been published in such noted literary spaces as Ninth Letter, International Poetry Review, Electric Literature, Atlanta Review, and Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Annual, among numerous others. Ivy serves creative communities as the Senior Systems Project Manager at MacDowell, the United States' first artist residency, and as a member of the editorial staff at Seventh Wave Magazine.

Ivy holds an MPA in public policy from the City University of New York at Baruch College and a double Bachelors in economics and psychology from Fordham University. She lives in Morelos, Mexico with her partner, the novelist and human rights attorney Jorge Ríos.
Ivy Raff has two readings:

June 10th at Oldspeak: Reserve at https://surelsplace.ludus.com/fundraiser.php?id=4300
June 24th at Surel's Place 7pm reading from Water Eye.