Sinclair students interested in English and writing will have the opportunity to meet professional writers and hone their writing skills at the Writing for Transformation workshop.
The featured guests will be writer, attorney and activist Melody Moezzi, traditional storyteller and memoirist Omope Carter Daboiku and local poet Grace Curtis.
Furaha Henry-Jones, an Associate Professor of English and the organizer of the event, is excited to see what is in store for the attendees.
“We have a very diverse group of writers and non-writers from the Dayton area that attend these workshops,” Henry-Jones said.
The theme of the workshop is transformation, and how writing can lead to that. It can transform an individual or can make a much larger impact based on the scale, according to Henry-Jones.
The workshop will be an open environment for seasoned writers or novices to learn from professional writers and improve their work.
“I really hope people come to the event, we have some great guests, it’s free to get in and it’s easy to get in and out of the sessions,” Henry-Jones said. “Everyone is welcome, regardless of your major, and it is a welcoming space and a great way to improve your writing.”
The event is free to attend and open to everyone that wants to hear the speakers, not just Sinclair students.
The festivities start at 10 a.m. with an informational session for English majors. The focus of this will be about opportunities to transfer to other universities.
At 11:15 a.m. Melody Moezzi, a writer, activist and attorney will speak for an hour. She has written two books, a memoir about her life and a look at the lives of American Muslims. Her work has been published in The Huffington Post, The New York Times and The Guardian.
Moezzi is an Iranian-American from Dayton. Her essay collection “The War on Error” was required reading for incoming UD students.
Daboiku and Curtis will take the stage after Moezzi at 12:30 p.m.
Daboiku was born in the Ohio hills of Appalachia and has traveled and performed internationally. She is a cultural geographer and oral historian who shares and collects folktales and stories that highlight the common struggles of all humans.
Curtis is an Ohio based poet who does events all around the Miami Valley and beyond. Her first book, “The Shape of a Box” was published in 2014.
After the speeches, the event will move to the dining rooms in the Tartan Marketplace for two, one-hour breakout sessions. Each author will be in a different room and will teach a few short lessons.
This will be Sinclair’s forty-third workshop and will be held on April 10. The speakers will be in the Loggia level of the library and breakout sessions will be in the Tartan Marketplace.
Henry Wolski
Reporter