Writing Poetry in Response to Current Events

SESSION DESCRIPTION:Writing may not be able to stop a bullet, but it can help us to survive. In this OnDemand webinar, Lisa Kwong reflects on the role of poetry as a response to current events and why people turn to it as a way to process and cope. Considering examples that address events including, but not limited to, the Virginia Tech massacre, the swine flu and COVID-19 pandemics, and last year’s Atlanta spa shootings, Kwong demonstrates that poetry can be a powerful source of comfort for our communities. INSTRUCTOR BIO: A native of Radford, Virginia, Lisa Kwong is the author of Becoming AppalAsian (Glass Lyre Press, 2022), a poetry chapbook, and “Searching for Wonton Soup,” winner of Sundress Publications’ 2019 Poetry Broadside Contest. Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets, A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, root & branch, the minnesota review, Still: The Journal, Naugatuck River Review, Pluck!