Pushing Through: A Political Healing Writing Workshop
NY Writers Coalition has always been rooted in providing space for writers from historically disenfranchised populations; Pushing Through is a writing workshop for those seeking support in light of the challenges within the challenges in our national and global politics. This workshop provides a safe space to discuss and process our more recent crises, and will offer a community during a period that has forced many into solitude.
The topics and prompts in Pushing Through will be based on these very themes, but will continue to follow all the guidelines and models of all NYWC workshops. If you are not interested in this theme, please consider our regular 6-week virtual workshops here.
This workshop will follow our write-in format for participants who may not be able to commit to a longer-term experience. Our write-ins are 90-minute generative writing sessions that also provide the opportunity to read your work on the spot. Space is unlimited but registration is required for each individual session.
You can stay in the loop about workshop updates by signing up for our newsletter here. This workshop is open to all writers, regardless of race, class, creed, or gender identity.
Pushing Through will meet on Mondays from 6:00 – 8:00 pm (ET) from 9/11 – 10.16
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ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER, MICHELE GILLIAM
Until recently, I worked at the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) as the organization’s Political Director. In the last ten years, I have held leadership roles on three presidential campaigns: Bernie 2016, Hillary for America, and Elizabeth Warren’s bid in 2020. A proud trade unionist, I started my career in labor as an organizer for TWU Local 100 and worked as the union’s Political and Legislative Director in between campaigns.
My political career has dominated much of my life but my heart is equally full with my love of writing. And this is a love that was largely fostered by the New York Writers Coalition, an organization that I have been involved with for over eighteen years- more than half my life! Since the start of the pandemic, I have been leading virtual writing workshops for the Black Writers Program and Pushing Through. I dabble in fiction but am currently working on a memoir, working title: A Madwoman in Her Most Incandescent Bloom. Her writings have been published in Teachers & Writers Collaborative, Newtown Literary Journal, qns.com, and the New York Daily News. My first play, Displaced, was read at the Castillo Theater in 2012.
Pushing Through was started following the events on January 6, 2021 and the workshop exists to help writers work through the many challenges that persist in our nation’s politics. We start each writing session with a prompt and because of its political nature, most of the topics pertain to social justice or feature wisdom from activist leaders. Like the world we are living in, Pushing Through can get heavy and so we sometimes make time for moments of silence and open discussion. Past participants have also been very generous about sharing additional writing resources that are available, which really cements how community based this particular workshop is for those of us who are undoubtedly pushing through.