Class

Beyond Text: Visual Experiments in Writing for Ages 15 to 18

Welcome back to Summer Youth at Open Book! Join us for a week of writing and all day creativity!

As writers, we rely on image all the time: in metaphor, in description, in our characters, in the worlds we create on the page. But how might we use image beyond text? What happens to our writing when we embrace experimentation and lean into hybrid forms—into forms that use both text and image? Working within a hybrid tradition, first we will explore how contemporary writers have used visual experimentation in revolutionary ways—discussing examples of new media, visual poetry, experimental fiction, erasure, and collage, among other forms. Then, we will turn to generating our own work. Students can expect to write new material, break apart traditional genre conventions in order to (re)construct hybrid works, and to, quite literally, rip up magazines and old books as we experiment with a wide variety of texts and media. Centering innovative “play,” this is a generative workshop for students working in any genre who want to investigate new forms, practice experimental writing practices, and explore the intersections between image and text, art and writing.