SPILL YOUR GUTS: A Flash Memoir Workshop w/Leanne Grabel

In this workshop, you will write a series of flash (concise) memoirs–short pieces that recount events, people and places of impact throughout your life. We will look at many examples, review poetic techniques and editing techniques so that your words will be carefully chosen and lyrical, yet able to describe without becoming bogged down in length and complication. In essence, you will be writing prose poetry. I will also bring in my digital keyboard if anyone wants to experiments with reading their pieces with a beat. I almost always perform my writing with a beat and sometimes a backup vocalist doing sound effects.

Leanne Grabel is a poet, illustrator and performer. In love with mixing genres, Grabel has written & produced numerous poetry-based, multi-media shows, collaborating with various performers, musicians and artists. Grabel’s graphic memoir, Brontosaurus Illustrated, was published by The Opiate Books in 2022. My Husband’s Eyebrows, illustrated prose poems, was published by the Poetry Box in 2022. Grabel’s Old With Jokes, a performance and chapbook, was created for ArtLab 2023. Waiting to Hate, Maybe was finalized and turned into an illustrated book for a Text/Image show at GA Gallery in Portland, OR. She is currently attempting to turn dozens of graphic prose poems into a full-length anthology. Grabel is the 2020 recipient of the Bread & Roses Award for contributions to women’s literature in the Pacific Northwest. A Stanford graduate and a retired special education teacher, Grabel spent 25 years working with at-risk youth in the Portland area.