Bronx Memoir Project Workshop: Let Me Provide Some Context

Inspired by April’s Poetry Month, this week’s workshop will be led by BostonPoet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola: Often times, a poem is built around the information the writer has provided. More times than not, transcendent poems leave a reader with a sense of wonder and mystery, by sometimes, not providing information. Narrators are gifted magical powers, able to control the amount and the kind of information a reader takes in, sometimes even, leaving out context. Participants in this memoir writing workshop, will spend time looking memory and a particular memory's relationship to absences. Rooted in futurism, participants will write a piece that explores the power yielded when we build our own context or deconstruct the context surrounding who and what we are made of. This workshop will not only question what happens when we narrate our own stories but also invite participants to think about imaginative ways to reshape, and un-shape our truths.

About Porsha Olayiwola (Instructor)

Porsha Olayiwola is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and was named by GK100 as one of Boston’s Most Influential People of Color. She is the Artistic Director at MassLEAP, a literary non-profit organization in Massachusetts serving youth artists.  Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston and has her first full collection of poetry forthcoming with Button Poetry in November 2019. 


RSVP HERE