Authentic Voices workshop on Saturday

The Red River Valley Writing Project will be hosting "How We Survive: Writing it Down," a writing workshop focusing on survival stories, Saturday, June 27, from 9 a.m. to noon at Richard Barry Hall, 811 2nd Ave. N. in downtown Fargo, as part of the statewide "authentic VOICES" project. The workshop is free and open to the public.

RRVWP Director Dr. Kelly Sassi will facilitate the workshop. Participants will write poems, essays or memoirs about surviving abuse, an act of nature, an accident or a loss of some type. "The workshop is for anyone who went through any kind of experience that caused them to draw on survival skills," Sassi explained. "It could range from injustices in life to surviving a flood event. It's really open to what people in the community need in terms of exploring their survival experiences and developing that into a piece of writing.”

Sassi and two RRVWP teacher consultants, Fargo middle school teacher Kim Rensch and Moorhead high school teacher Angela Cunningham, will serve as instructors for the workshop. 

"This is an opportunity for participants who have survived anything to write about it," Sassi said. "Hopefully, we can form the writings into a publishable piece of work."

The writing workshop will be held in conjunction with "How We Survive: A Conversation," scheduled for Friday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. The event features a book release and a 10-minute film screening.

These events are sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota, funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council.

For more information about Authentic Voices, click here. (from NDSU)