Saturday, June 6th 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Teens + Adults • For many queer writers, our queerness compels us to push boundaries, disrupt norms, and imagine ourselves into spaces that may not have been conceived. Creative writing often asks the same of us. With no academic background required for participation, this seminar will explore how the practice of writing intersects with the (multitudinous, rather undefinable) field of queer theory. We’ll discuss how queer writers resist conventions through craft elements including form, theme, style, and literary devices, in attempt to articulate possible answers to the questions: how might we write queerly, and how can we adopt a queerer theory of practice in our creative work?

Dylan Cooper is a writer, teacher, and amateur birder from Providence, Rhode Island. They earned an MFA in fiction from Eastern Washington University, where they taught a Beginning Fiction workshop and were the nonfiction managing editor for Willow Springs magazine. Inspired by queer theory, transcendental literary tradition, and the intersection of art and locality, Dylan’s work often looks to bring a trans/nonbinary perspective to subcultures of New England. While working to finish their first novel, they have had poems published in Washington State Queer Poetry Anthology, and their fiction has been supported by the McCormack Writing Center (formerly Tin House), Community of Writers, and the Joseph Dever Fellowship.