Join us for a free writing workshop based on one of Walt Whitman’s most treasured poems, “Song of Myself”. Participants will have the opportunity to do some guided freewriting towards developing their own Song of Myself poem and will also work collaboratively to create a group poem, a “song of ourselves.” Included will be a talk on Walt Whitman with the presenter, Amber West, reading some of his work aloud. She will also share some of her own Whitman-inspired work.

Amber West is a poet who teaches writing at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is touring Oregon with lectures and workshops for National Poetry Month in April of 2019 to celebrate the 200th birthday of Walt Whitman, the father of American poetry. Her poetry collection, Hen & God, was published in 2017 by the Washington, D.C. based literary press, The Word Works and these events are also part of her Egg Up! national book tour. The title of the tour is a feminist re-visioning of the old saying, "Man up!" West earned her B.A. in Literature & Creative Writing from University of California, Santa Cruz, M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New York University, and Ph.D. in English from University of Connecticut. Her dear college friend and roommate, Sarah Ann Mercer, is memorialized in the Eagle Point Library.