In this Zoom talk, poet Charlotte Pence will focus on different strategies both poets and prose writers have employed to create satisfying yet surprising endings. Some writers we will find inspiration from include Eduardo Corral, Jericho Brown, Layli Long Soldier, Joan Didion, Kazuo Ishiguru, and Annie Proulx. After we look at examples together, participants will have the opportunity to revise endings that they bring to the workshop in break-out groups.

Charlotte Pence’s first book of poems, Many Small Fires (Black Lawrence Press, 2015), received an INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award from Foreword Reviews. She is also author of two award-winning chapbooks and editor of The Poetics of American Song Lyrics. In July of 2020, her new collection, Code (Black Lawrence Press), was cited by The Millions as one of four “July Must-Read” poetry titles. A graduate of Emerson College (MFA) and the University of Tennessee (PhD), she is now the director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing at University of South Alabama.

charlottepence.com