This seminar is part of the Accents Originals Series held in partnership with Accents Publishing.

In this class, we will look at ways poetry can be used to ask the things we were told we should ignore, bring forth the truths we were told to hide, and open our voices to sing and shout and say all the things we have been hesitant to. To help clear our throats, we will read poets who dared to be honest and then we’ll take our turn unsilencing ourselves by generating new work in a safe and supportive environment. We will look at form and craft and discuss the potential peril and liberation of publishing honest work.

Melissa Jørgenrud Helton is the author of A Middle-Aged Woman Rages(Accents Publishing, 2026). She serves as the Literary Arts Director of Hindman Settlement School, a cultural nonprofit in Knott County, Kentucky. She is editor of the anthology Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky (University Press of KY) and Untelling, the literary and arts magazine of Hindman Settlement School.

Register at the link below. You will receive an invoice at a later time.