Inherited Stories: A Masterclass with Sarah Howe

Join Sarah Howe for a masterclass about the stories we inherit: the overheard or uncertain, the incomplete or misunderstood. We’ll look at poems that arise out of the dark and fertile space where generational memory and ancestral lore shade into myth and hearsay.

We’ll touch on family secrets, buried shames, the scenes of storytelling, and what happens when a single event is refracted through contrasting perspectives. We’ll look at poems that explore the myths – sometimes deep-seated or destructive – about ourselves imposed on us by others, thinking about inherited forms, and newly invented ones.

Poets we’ll read together might include Terrance Hayes, Cathy Linh Che, Richard Siken, and more, en route to generating new drafts of our own.