Teacher Feature: Wendi White

The world is in great need of our stories and poems. Great literature not only allows us to inhabit other personas, expanding our capacity for empathy, it can also deepen our empathy for ourselves. Art has the power to move us toward right relationship with the world, with ourselves, and with other human beings, seemingly very different from ourselves (but not really). No one has a monopoly on the truth, but everyone has piece of the puzzle and there are no solutions to humanities predicaments without a multiple points of view, a symphony of voices. -Wendi White

This summer, Muse teaching artist Wendi White is teaching Giving Voice: A Creative Writing Workshop for Women on Saturdays, Jul 10 – Jul 31, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm.

This workshop for women will follow the Amherst Writers Method of developing voice, craft and leadership through the practice of writing poetry, fiction and essays in a supportive group setting. This method has been highly effective with a wide variety of participants including those with marginalized gender, racial and socio-economic identities. It has also been used with survivors of trauma. Many of us return to or arrive in a writing group after having internalized the message that our voices don’t matter or that we can’t write. This method is designed to help participants overcome such barriers so they may develop the stories and perspectives only they possess. This process connects participants to their animating passions and empowers them in both their writing and their lives.

Who are Wendi White’s favorite authors?

My people are from New England and so I was nursed on Frost and Dickenson as a child. As I grew into my woman hood, I did my time with Plath, Rich, and LeGuin. My guilty pleasure was science fiction/ fantasy so the few women authors writing in these genres inspired me to dream big.

Now as a full member of the Wise Women’s Guild, I find my self returning to these early influences, but also loving the work of more diverse and new voices: Jericho Brown, Olivia Gatwood, Lucille Clifton, Kevin Young, Haunani Kay Trask, Natalie Diaz, Joy Harjo… I try to read widely as my lease on this planet is short and it is a gift to sit quietly and hear another’s voice.

Find Wendi’s work here, here, and here. 

See a full catalog of our Summer classes, workshops, and seminars and register HERE.

***Tuition assistance and flexibility is available to all who request it, no questions asked. Just select the “I want to talk about tuition assistance” box when checking out!