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BIPOC-only writing class on grief with Bushra Rehman.

“When mothers are planted, daughters begin a furious blooming.” Initiation, Kamilah Aisha Moon

Grief leaves us speechless, throws us into the depths of silence. There are never the right words to say to those who are grieving. Or to explain to others the depths of our own grief. How can we lean into our writing practice to not only survive the storms of grief, but also the storms that are unleashed in those who we grieve alongside? How have writers before us grappled with personal and collective grief? In this workshop, students will find inspiration from writers who have broken through the boundary of wordlessness, and join each other in our grief journeys, if only for a moment with author Bushra Rehman, author of Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion.

This class is a 2-hour-long generative writing class with 25 spots.

Tuition is $40-$60+ sliding scale. Participants will receive a copy of Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion.

Funds will be shared with Middle East Children’s Alliance – Meca for Peace, a nonprofit organization working for the rights and the well-being of children in the Middle East. MECA supports dozens of community projects for Palestinian children and refugees.

This class is open to BIPOC writers only.

Bushra Rehman’s dark comedy, Corona, was chosen by the NY Public Library as one of its favorite books about NYC. She is co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism and author of the collection of poetry Marianna’s Beauty Salon, described by Joseph O. Legaspi as “a love poem for Muslim girls, Queens, and immigrants making sense of their foreign home–and surviving.” Her new novel, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, is a modern classic about what it means to be Muslim and queer in a Pakistani-American community was chosen as a Best Book and Editor’s Choice by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, People Magazine, Good Morning America, Goodreads,  The Chicago Review, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, Lambda Literary, BookRiot, PopSugar, The AV Club, E! News, Ms. Magazine and more.

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees are encouraged to stay masked at all time.

Recirculation, a project of Word Up Community Bookshop, is located at 876 Riverside Drive (near 160th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 157th St., A/C train to 163rd St., and the M4 and M5 to Broadway and 159/160th.