Workshops
Surrealist Realisms
A Six-Week Generative Workshop of Surreal Engagement with the Real: Tuesdays, 1/6-2/10, 7-9pm est, on Zoom
This is a weird place, what we call reality. And trying to wedge the real world into the page often makes it even weirder. But I think that even-weirderness sometimes tells us more about the experience of lived reality than “realism” can. Or I hope so anyways, as it has always seemed to me that the imaginary writes the real.
This workshop explores ways to relate the real to the surreal & vice versa & so on. We will apply surrealist writing strategies to realist goals, taking inspiration from such writers as Lucille Clifton, Larry Levis, Joyce Mansour, Tristan Tzara, Bob Kaufman, Mary Ruefle, Will Alexander, Jackie Wang, & more.
Each week, we’ll read & discuss published works with a focus on some element of the real world, write from prompts, share what we’ve written, & discuss, discuss, discuss. It is a generative workshop, not a critique-driven workshop. The focus is on explorations, rather than refinements.
The workshop is open to writers at any level or plane of experience, as long as you have the willingness to explore some elements of the incomprehensible in published work & yourself. It’s open to any genre, though I’m a poet, so I’ll be developing & expressing the ideas mostly in relation to poetry.
1/6: Dreaming Home
1/13: The Surreal Self
1/20: The Dream of the Other
1/27: Dreaming History
2/3: Surreal Commerce
2/10: The Political Surreal
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To sign up email me at mathias.svalina at gmail
Sliding scale: 0-300 for the whole dang thing
Or 0-50 for drop-ins
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Let’s Read Paul Celan’s Books Together
A Reading & Discussion Workshop: Sundays 1/4-3/8, 2026, 7-9pm est, on Zoom
Paul Celan is one of the most important poets of the twentieth century, a poet who translated horror to poetry, & then translated what comes after horror. He is also, for me, one of the most inspiring poets. His work reminds me of what poetry can do that no other medium or genre can do. When I read him I want to write works that transform the world. I want the world transformed. And it is this mix of awe for his work & inspiration from his work that underscores this workshop.
In this weekly online workshop, we will read Celan’s books, as translated by Pierre Joris. I’m not a scholar or an academic; I want to read this work as writers & a devotees. I hope responses will range from the intellectual to the emotional, from generative to personal to universal, but really I have no expectations. I’m just excited to read his work with fellow writers & talk through what we see & hear.
Each week we’ll discuss one book of Celan’s work, reading some of the poems out loud (in translation, unless you speak German?), focusing closely on a handful, talking about the work of the collection, & what emerges from book to book.
The Joris translations are in print & available, but I can provide pdfs, if needed.
Workshop goals:
Track the career-long development of a incomparable poet.
Deepen understanding of how a life’s work rises through the poems.
Develop lessons about poetic craft, vision, & humanity.
Engage in the joys of thinking deeply & unabashedly about poetry with others.
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Week One 1/4: Mohn und Gedächtnis / Poppy and Memory
Week Two 1/11: Von Schwelle zu Schwelle / Threshold to Threshold
Week Three 1/18: Sprachgitter / Speechgrille
Week Four 1/25: Die Niemandsrose / NoOnesRose
Week Five 2/1: Atemwende / Breathturn
Week Six 2/8: Fadensonnen / Threadsuns
Week Seven 2/15: Eingedunkeit / Tenebrae’d
Week Eight 2/22: Lichtzwand / Lightduress
Week Nine 3/1: Schneepart / Snowpart
Week Ten 3/8: Zeitghöft / Timestead
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To sign up email me at mathias.svalina at gmail
Sliding scale: 0-300 for all ten weeks
or 0-30 for drop-ins