Free Generative Writing Workshop!

Co-sponsored by PorchLight and Iowa City Poetry, the Free Generative Writing Workshops provide a space for career writers, curious beginners, writers of all income levels and stages of life. Our goal is to make it easy to meet and learn from some of the most talented writer/teachers living in or passing through Iowa City. Every month a new writer leads a generative workshop, presenting a prompt inspired by their own preoccupations, passions, or interests. It has been an adventure, and we are continually inspired by the creative concentration of participants, and the powerful beginnings the workshop generates.

This month's leader: Nikki Ummel is a queer writer, editor, and educator in New Orleans. Nikki has been published or has work forthcoming in Painted Bride Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, The Georgia Review, and others. She has been nominated for Pushcart, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and the CLMP Firecracker Awards. She is the 2022 recipient of the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize, Second Place Winner of Kelsay Books' 2022 Women’s Poetry Contest, and the 2022 recipient of an Academy of American Poets Award. A reader for Peauxdunque Review and editor for Bear Review, Nikki is the co-founder of lmnl lit, an arts organization focused on readings, workshops, and residencies. She has a poetry chapbook, Hush (Belle Point Press, 2022) and a hybrid chapbook, Bayou Sonata (forthcoming, NOLA DNA, 2023). You can find her on the web at www.nikkiummel.com.