Poetry and Fiction of Place: Imagining and Capturing
Southern Maryland

Jeff Coleman

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In this workshop we will focus on ways to capture the spirit, history and significance of Southern Maryland in poetry and fiction. The session will be driven by a brief brainstorming session about how the region’s past, present or future--either real or imagined--speaks to us and how we can use the region as inspiration in our writing. Subjects can consist of the region’s natural environment, human presence, specific buildings or sites, hometowns or culture, among other ideas. Attendees will have time to start new poems and works of fiction during the workshop. We will conclude by sharing our drafts and discussing ways to strengthen them in the future. This workshop is designed for all levels of writers.

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Jeffrey Lamar Coleman is a professor of English at St. Mary's College of Maryland where he teaches creative writing and 20th and 21st century literature. Coleman is also the editor of Words of Protest, Words of Freedom: Poetry of the American Civil Rights Movement and Era, author of Spirits Distilled: Poems,and associate editor of the Journal of Hip Hop Studies.