Workshop: Tackling the Book-Length Poem with Diana Arterian
Workshop: Tackling the Book-Length Poem with Diana Arterian
6 Sessions: Saturdays, May 2 - June 6
1:00-3:00pm ET
Diana Arterian
Tap into poetry's ancient form with Diana Arterian, a writer who has published two book-length poems that attend to history, power, family, and politics, earning starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and named "best of" by Ms. Magazine and Electric Literature.
Poetry is our most ancient means of creative expression. While it began with lullabies, the epic is poetry's most enduring form the world over. The book-length poem is the epic's modern mode, harkening to poetry's origins. It allows us to attend to concerns beyond what a single page (or even a dozen) can contain.
As heady and exciting as this all might be, many logistical things nettle the book-length poem. How do you make sure it's not lesser than the sum of its parts? How do you manage order? How do you keep a reader interested, even if the collection doesn't adhere to a chronology? How do you excerpt it for publication? In this workshop, we'll discuss portions of works-in-progress to attend to these concerns, as well as look at the works of others who have defined the modern book-length poem (from Alice Notley to Ross Gay to Muriel Rukeyser).
While poem drafts or a manuscript draft are not required, ideally this workshop will be a space for people to bring burning ideas they haven't yet begun to write about or have something in-progress.
Workshop Highlights:
A space to explore with other poets curious about the book-length poem and interrogate its defining features, spaces for intervention, and how your work operates within that form.
In-depth feedback and discussion as a group to help you refine your work and troubleshoot broader challenges with the manuscript.
A thorough list of notable examples of book-length poems that challenge and expand the form.
This class has 1 full and 2 partial scholarships available. To apply, please fill out this form by Friday, April 24.
Diana Arterian is the author of the recent poetry collection Agrippina the Younger (Northwestern University Press/Curbstone, 2025) and editor and co-translator of Smoke Driftss (World Poetry Books, 2025), a collection of Nadia Anjuman’s poetry. Diana’s first collection, Playing Monster :: Seiche, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was a Poetry Foundation Staff Pick. Diana has penned the chapbooks With Lightness & Darkness and Other Brief Piecess (Essay Press) and Death Centos (Ugly Duckling Presse), and co-edited the anthology Among Margins: Critical & Lyrical Writing on Aesthetics (Ricochet).
A Poetry Editor at Noemi Press and twice-finalist for the National Poetry Series, Diana’s creative work has been recognized with fellowships from the Banff Centre, Caldera, Millay Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Yaddo. Her poetry, nonfiction, criticism, co-translations, and conversations have been featured by The Academy of American Poets, BOMB, Brooklyn Rail, Harvard Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, NPR, New York Times Book Review, and Poetry Magazine, among others. She writes “The Annotated Nightstand” column at Lit Hub.
Diana holds a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California, an MFA in Poetry from CalArts, and has held teaching positions at CalArts, Fordham, Merrimack, and Wichita State. She is the 2026 Lurie Distinguished Visiting Professor at San José State University and lives in Los Angeles.
