Each month, we’ll read and discuss a different text to inspire our own free-write session, drawing from women’s stories of power, madness, sensuality, tragedy, queerness, and insubordination. Time will be set aside at the end of each meetup for folks to share excerpts of what they’ve written.

This September, we’ll read the work of Lalleshwari, also known as Lal Ded, a Kashmiri mystic from the early 14th century whose deceptivley simple verses deliver profound meditations on philosophy and spirituality, all through the lens of the everyday. We’ll wander through her body of work, crossing oceans, riding horses, and opening doors. Inspired by her contemplations on devotion, destruction, and bliss, we’ll write our own pieces which reach to uncover the sacred in the mundane.

Written Women is led by poet, movement artist and facilitator Katya Borkov. You can learn more about her work at http://www.everythingspills.studio, or on instagram @everything.spills

This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Painting featured in the banner by Kanayalal S Raina.