Workshop: Turning a Phrase with Zora with Ariana Brown

Description: Beautiful writing isn’t just about imagery—it’s also about finding simple, innovative ways of expressing an idea. In this class, we’ll study the work of Zora Neale Hurston, focusing on how she uses emotional yet straightforward language to convey complex ideas. If you’ve ever wondered how to spice up the language in your work, this class on turning a phrase is for you. We’ll also do exercises on flipping common phrases to create surprise in your work. This class includes group study and discussion, lecture, writing exercises, Q&A, time to share, and take-home exercises to sharpen your phrases. Ideal for writers of all genres.

Registration: To fulfill TORCH's mission, workshops are open to Black women and women of color. Email contact @ torchliteraryarts.org with the subject line "Turning a Phrase with Zora" to register. The deadline to register is May 12th. >>This workshop is now full.<< 

Max Participants: 10

Cost: Free

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from the Southside of San Antonio, Texas, now based in Houston, Texas. She is the author of the poetry collections We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). Ariana's work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, Black relationality and girlhood, loneliness, and care. Her debut poetry EP, LET US BE ENOUGH, is available on Bandcamp. She holds a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies from UT Austin, an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh, and is pursuing an M.L.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Ariana is a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion and owes much of her practice to Black performance communities led by Black women poets from the South. She has been writing, performing, and teaching poetry for over ten years. Follow Ariana on Twitter and Instagram @ArianaThePoet.

Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. TORCH has featured work by Toi Derricotte, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats.

Help TORCH continue to publish and promote Black women writers by donating today.