Oracular writing is an inquiry-based, reading-driven workshop that aims to keep the mind in a fresh state of alert observance through designed “thinking missions” and questioning exercises. Join us for a lunch-hour infusion of experimental inquiry.

Using various texts as divining rods, students will construct dreamscape geographies and other poetic architectures, generating new work following the lead of writers such as Gaston Bachelard, W.S. Sebald, Alice Notley, Lisa Robertson, Bhanu Kapil, Nathalie Stephens, Rebecca Solnit, Mark Nowak, Jesse Ball, and more.

We will spend time together in class thinking about the thinking that we do as readers and as participants in our encounters, in order to invigorate our understanding of what writing really is. We will not analyze writings/results as separate pieces but will gather to create generative questions, questions designed to open up the piece or the thinking that each participant presents.

With our eyes on the process rather than the product, we will generate a lot of new work in various forms, such as photos, drawings, clippings, field notes, etc., considering how our image-making skills offer other valid forms of "writing."  

This workshop is SOLD OUT. If you wish to be added to the waiting list, please contact Cybele Knowles at knowles@email.arizona.edu.