Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28 (see times below)
Investment: $389 Earlybird (before 3/1): $349
Now more than ever, we need those who’ve lived with illness to speak powerfully about their experiences, shaping the way our friends, families, communities, and policy makers respond to the global pandemic. And yet illness stories are notoriously hard to tell, hemmed in by overly technical language, periods of disorientation, the inextricability of one ailment from the next, and the onerous play-by-plays of treatment—not to mention the resistance of the able-bodied to hearing what we have to say.
In this 2-day intensive hosted over Zoom, we’ll open by exploring the established therapeutic value of writing about illness experiences, considering the difference between writing that primarily seeks to heal and writing that seeks to reach literary audiences. We’ll use published illness writing as our launching pad to study what it looks like to successfully manage the chronology, scope, and language of modern illness experiences. We’ll practice framing the same story in different ways, glimpsing how our individual stories might make meaning for readers. We’ll talk about the possibility of collage structures for the illness essay, and seek to widen the narrative lens through which we view our own experiences. We’ll practice upgrading medicalized language into poetry.
As we cut through all that’s held us back and touch in with each others’ work, we’ll reconnect with the meanings that live at the center of our stories—the uneasy gifts it’s our job to bring back.
SATURDAY, MARCH 27
Introductions + Overview of Core Illness Writing Concepts from 11:00am-1:15pm MT
Structuring the Illness Narrative from 3:45pm-6:15pm MT
SUNDAY, MARCH 28
Framing & Scope In the Illness Narrative from 10:00am- 12:15pm MT
Harnessing The Power of the Illness Narrative from 3:45pm-6:15pm
This class has been cancelled due to low enrollment. If you’d like to be notified when the class returns, please sign up below! We’d love to connect with you next time around.
Some further helpful notes:
A deposit of half the total registration investment is required to hold your place. Registrations (partial or full) are not refundable within one week of the class start date. To work out an alternate payment plan, please contact Kati’s assistant Kristen.
This class is not a support group, nor is it intended to take the place of mental healthcare.
While writers may be invited to read from their in-class prompt writing, this is not a space where we will be able to offer feedback on your pre-written essay.
Writers should expect to read a set of essays before our time together. These works will form the backbone of our discussions.
For one of our exercises, writers will need a packet of sticky notes or white paper cut up into slips (about the size of your preferred sticky notes). For another exercise, writers will need a piece of blank paper and a pen, pencil, or marker. Otherwise, writers may use their preferred writing materials.
All class sessions will include some form of brief zoom break.
While I understand that taking care of yourself sometimes requires stepping away—and that this is especially true for folks living with illness and injury—I do ask that you sign up for the class with the initial intention to remain for the duration. My teaching style is quite dynamic and we will, at times, discuss things out of order or wander into unexpected territory, seeing the “topics” blur together; therefore, the sessions as they are listed now may change slightly when we are holding space together, and cannot be purchased individually.
Although class will meet only during the specified times, it is highly recommended to consider the break times and hours between sessions as part of the course. If you can, aside space for personal regeneration—a nap, a walk in nature, meditation, journaling, painting, stretching, chatting with a friend about the class, even just staring at the wall. Know yourself and what you might need to fully take advantage of this experience.
Those with chaotic home environments might consider whether there is somewhere they can go to take quieter space for this course— though, of course, it’s understood that we’re in a pandemic and not everyone has the privilege of renting an exterior location.
Class minimum: 7 participants. Class maximum: 15 participants.
Kati brings to this class more than 30 hours of training at the Arizona Trauma Institute and nearly six years teaching illness writing and supporting clients through the problems of their illness and trauma narratives. Her book Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life tells the story of her troubled relationship to her own cardiac defibrillator, including battles in the healthcare system, navigating illness as a young person, and surgeries-gone-wrong. The book required an brutal, multiyear trauma writing process that honed her unique pedagogy for working with traumatic illness material. As a sexuality educator, she has held space for tough conversations with more than 8,500 people; as a soul, her study in tarot, Reiki, and Post-Daoist philosophy help her open a deep, rich space for other writers.
“Kati is so open-hearted and wise in her craft. She is not afraid to share and examine difficult subjects; she encourages her students to expand their viewpoints, and step out of their comfort zone, while at the same time guiding us gently through terrain that can be challenging. She is one of the most knowledgeable and open-minded writers I know. In her illness writing class I started a draft of a personal essay, about a very difficult subject, and I haven’t experimented with this form in years. The other class members became equally engaged in the class, and the entire experience was extremely enlightening.”
“I am so grateful for Kati’s course on illness writing. This was my first writing course and Kati created a fine introduction to the craft, helping me start on a new and fantastic journey. Kati distilled so much about the craft to create focus and liveliness, without the ideas being overwhelming or out of reach. She inspired an atmosphere of discovery and ease so each student felt her own voice and understood more of her own story in a way that could only occur by group effect. No one wanted the course to end!
The impact was deep—changing how I read, think, and write. Kati helped free something in me, dissolving a fear and a holding back, leaving me with excitement to keep journeying in the country of writing.”