News Release

ROCHESTER — Indiana Poet Laureate Curtis Crisler will provide a free public writing workshop at the Fulton County Public Library’s Rochester Branch Saturday, April 6.

This event is offered as part of Indiana Humanities’ work with the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards, which honor the best books written by Indiana authors. Awarded every two years, they celebrate Indiana writers, shine a light on the Hoosier state’s literary community and deepen connections between Indiana writers and readers.

In this workshop, Crisler will demonstrate how to write a “sonastic” poem, a form of poetry that marries the persona poem and the ekphrastic poem to create a new style. Participants will review ekphrastic and persona poetry, as well as samples from songs and Crisler’s book inspired by the musician Stevie Wonder, “Don’t Moan So Much (Stevie): A Poetry Musiquarium,” to illustrate the details of the sonastic form.

Participants will leave with an understanding of what a sonastic poem is and have a working draft of a sonastic poem.

“I originally chose this workshop back in the fall of 2023 because I was interested in the way Mr. Crisler uses music as an inspiration for his poetry,” said FCPL Literacy Director David Hazledine. “The library has developed a thriving poetry culture thanks to the ‘Poet Tree’ compilations introduced by my predecessor, Tim Roe. I hope to add more music-related programming into the mix, so it seemed like a good fit. Since then, Mr. Crisler has been named Indiana’s Poet Laureate, so we’re even more excited and honored to host his workshop, which also happens to coincide with National Poetry Month.”

The workshop is from 1-2:30 p.m. at the library, 320 W. Seventh St., in Meeting Room B.

To learn more about the event, visit www.fulco.lib.in.us.