Write Your Own Pillow Book – Kayla Geitzler
October 30
Date: Saturday, October 30, 2021, 10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Cost: $55
Location: In person at AX, the Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex
About the Workshop
In ancient Japan, upper-class women kept their journals inside of their pillows. These journals became known as Makura no Shoshi, or “pillow books”. When Sei Shōnagon, a court lady of Heian Japan, was writing her pillow book in the early eleventh century, she employed many different literary and artistic techniques to capture her everyday life.
In this three hour workshop, we will explore excerpts from Sei Shōnagon’s pillow book and discover moving and alternative ways to record our lives. Each participant will explore those techniques and engage in writing exercises that will offer new perspectives and outlets for journaling. Everyone is welcome, and no writing experience is necessary to participate.
About the Artist
Kayla Geitzler is from Moncton, NB, which is within the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq People. Named a “Rad Woman of Canadian Poetry” by All Lit Up, she is Moncton’s Anglophone Poet Laureate and Attic Owl Reading Series host. Her first poetry collection That Light Feeling Under Your Feet (NeWest Press, 2018) won the Bailey Award, was a Calgary Bestseller and finalist for two awards. Kayla is co-editor of Cadence Voix Feminines Female Voices (Frog Hollow Press, 2020), the first multilingual poetry anthology published in NB. A poetry editor for Galleon and writing life columnist for The Miramichi Reader, Kayla holds an MA in English Creative Writing. She works as an editor and writing consultant, also offering masterclass courses and workshops. Her writing has appeared in chapbooks and literary publications across Canada.
Kayla wishes for participants to know that her workshops are safe, intimate and encouraging spaces.