Upcoming Workshops, Readings, and Events.
How to Write the MFA Application Statement of Purpose (SOP)
Online, Zoom
Register for Tuesday | October 7 | 7-9pm ET
Register for Thursday | November 6 | 7-9pm ET
Sliding Scale: $75 | $100 | $125
In this crash course, participants will become familiar with the creative writing MFA application personal statement. In addition to having a frank conversation on what creative writing MFA committees look for in a personal statement in terms of content, we will discuss personal statement logistics in terms of length, structure, and tone. The majority of our time together, however, we will devote to drafting! Writers will leave with a to-do list, application resources, and a plan for what to do next.
Artist Residencies 101
October 30 | 2-4pm
Online, Zoom
FREE to New England artists
Assets for Artists
REGISTRATION LINK COMING SOON
Curious about artist residencies? In this workshop, we will go over different art residency models and what they have to offer, from artist communities to DIY and micro-residencies. We will discuss how to assess whether you are in the right season of your life and practice to apply, what residency model makes the most sense for you, and navigating residencies as a full-time worker or caregiver. Participants will leave with resources on where to find open calls, funding opportunities, and application dos and don’ts. This workshop will be discussion based and artists should come ready to journal. There will be time for Q&A.
Suitable for artists of all disciplines. 25 participants max.
Poet Tea: Making & Writing About Tea
Online, Zoom
Sunday | November 2 | 2-4pm ET
(Please note that that workshop takes place on Daylight Saving.)
Sliding Scale: $75 | $100 | $125
Join us for an interactive, generative, multi-genre writing workshop all about tea—just in time for daylight saving time! Teamaking, like writing, is a cultural activity that emphasizes ritual and sensory experience. In this two-hour class, we will consider poems (such as Leila Chatti’s "Tea") at the intersections of these themes as well as engage in a series of generative writing prompts to explore image, memory, culture, and narrative. Writers of all genres are welcome!
Participants need only bring a favorite tea along with them for an interactive experience.
Fund Your Writing: Fellowships, Residencies, and Grants
Asynchronous, Online
Sliding Scale: $75 | $100 | $125
REGISTRATION LINK COMING OCTOBER 2025
Learn how to fund your writing through fellowships, grants, and residencies. In this asynchronous workshop, explore databases, crowdsourced lists, newsletters, and other resources available to help you find funding opportunities—all at your own pace. This course will introduce you to the application process and its components, including the artist statement, project proposal, budget proposal, creative sample, CV, and letters of recommendation.
Upon completing the course, participants will have outlines, rough drafts, to-do lists, further application resources, and a sense of what to do next.
Winter Solstice Writing Workshop
Online, Zoom
Thursday | December 11 | 7-9pm ET
Sliding Scale: $75 | $100 | $125
In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice marks both the longest night of the year and a return to lengthening days. Inspired by the cultural traditions of Shab-e Yalda, Toji, and Dongzhi, this generative writing workshop invites us to relish and discuss poems (including work by Emily Jungmin Yoon) that consider the solstice’s metaphoric potential in our lives. We will spend the majority of the workshop engaging with prompts that welcome us to reflect on the earth’s natural rhythms, unearth memories from solstices past, and consider intentional rituals we might cultivate going forward.
This workshop is suitable for writers at any stage and in any genre. While there will be opportunities for us to share our drafts, it will not be a requirement to participate.
Finding Your Literary Community
Chill Subs | Online
$50 (Free for members of Chill Subs, Sub Club, &/or Forever Workshop)
DATE & REGISTRATION LINK COMING SOON
Why do we keep mythologizing the life of the writer as a solitary journey? No one makes their best art in a vacuum. In this workshop, we will explore places to find literary communities both in your zip code and online. Our focus will be on literary magazines, artist residencies, and community spaces in our zip codes. Participants will leave with resources and journaling questions to help them take next steps.
Past Readings & Events
“Creating and Sustaining a Satisfying Writing Life.” WriteAngles Conference. Northampton, MA (2024).
Literary Reading & Open Mic for Palestine/UNRWA. Bookends, Florence, MA (2024).
Conversation with Ani Gjika. Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA (2024).
“Women, Life, Freedom: Iranian Writers Reading & in Conversation.” RAWIFest+Mizna 2023. Minneapolis, MN (2023).
RAWIFest+Mizna 2023 Reading. Minneapolis (2023).
The Elemental Salon. Florence, MA (2023).
The Thirsty Lab Reading. Zoom (2023).
2022 Edith Wharton / Straw Dog Writers-in-Residence Celebration. Lenox, MA (2022).
AGNI Launch of Issue 95. Goethe-Institut Boston. Boston, MA (2022).
QTWOC + QPOC Winnipeg. Zoom (2022).
Radius of Arab American Writers Festival (RAWIFest). Zoom (2021).
Poetry Reading with Fatemeh Shams. Blacksburg, VA (2019).
Contemporary Iranian-American Creative Nonfiction. University of Maryland Summer Language Institute Graduate Education Panel (2018).
Past Workshops
Creative Writing Workshops: Introduction to Creative Writing (12-week class), Introduction to Creative Nonfiction (12-week class), Jumpstart Your Writing: Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction (6-week class), Introduction to Poetry (6-week class), Space & Time for BIPOC Writers (12-week class), Poet Tea: Making & Writing about Tea (3-hour class), Eat the Apple: Writing Sensual Experiences (3-hour class), Beloved: How to Write a Love Letter (3-hour class), Who Let the Dogs Out: Writing About Pets (1-hour class)
Arts Business Workshops: Submitting to Literary Markets & Magazines (3-hour class), Artist Residencies 101 (2-hour class), Fund Your Writing: Fellowships, Residencies, and Grants (3-hour class); MFA Application Crash Course (3-hour class), Writing the MFA Application (4-week course) Cultivating Sustainable Writing Practices (3-hour class); Finding Your Literary Community (3-hour class)
Teaching Artist Professional Development: Teaching Artist Summer Camp: Cultivating a Teaching Philosophy (6-week class)
Poetry Basics
Join me for 4 Mondays (August 2, August 9, August 16, and August 23) from 5pm-7pm EST (4pm-6pm CST) for an introduction to poetry through the Loft.
Lamplighter Literary Arts Summer Writing Institute
Join me for 2-week online writing course for students entering grades 7-12 this summer through the 2021 Lamplighter Literary Arts Summer Writing Institute (LLASWI). International students are encouraged to apply. Financial aid available.
RAWIFest
Join me for a poetry reading through the Radius of Arab American Writers Festival (RAWIFest). I will read alongside poets Zein Sa’dedin, Deema Shehabi, Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Aliah Lavonne Tigh, and Hazem Fahmy.
Loft Sampler Class: Poetry
Join me for an online 1-hour poetry class hosted through the Loft. Click on the link for registration details.
Follow Your Art Community Studios Poetry 101
Yasmine will teach an online 5-week introductory poetry class for adult beginners through Follow Your Art Community Studios. In this class, students will look at diction, syntax, the stanza and the line, sonic play, imagery, and figurative language in poetry as well as practice poetic forms (e.g. persona poems, odes, elegies, ekphrasis) that necessitate a curiosity about the outside world. Each class period, we will learn a new poetry concept, read a poem and discuss how we see the work at play, and then generate our own poems. There will be opportunities to share our work with peers. Click here to register.