Forms & Features with Natalia Conte

All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop, “Under the Knife: Poetry of Medical Intervention,” created and led by Natalia Conte.

For many, the first moment of medical intervention occurs before speech, writing, or memory even exists: at birth, making it an integral part of our identity. From finding the right words to describe the snow-like appearance of cancer cells on a lung scan, to explaining the positioning of a cervix in pregnancy, poets have pursued language as a means to make the cold and clinical feel more familiar. In this session, we will work to peel back the skin of language and understand what lies below the surface, interrogating memory and dissecting jargon. We will investigate methods experienced poets within the genre have utilized while paying homage to the scars and screws that keep us upright, mourning the loss of movement in a knee, or reminiscing on the first set of stitches. Come prepared to read, write new material, and learn together about a topic that is certainly not skin deep. 

Natalia Conte (she/her) is a poet, educator, and essayist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her work has most recently appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Nimrod International Journal, and The Greensboro Review. Natalia holds an MFA in Creative Writing from NC State University where she received honorable mention in the NC State Poetry Contest. Raised by medical professionals, Natalia is working on a debut collection of poetry which seeks to merge lyrical and scientific language. She currently lives and writes in New York City. Learn more about upcoming publications and readings at www.nataliaconte.com.

Registration is required for this event. To allow for more poets to participate in workshops with Visiting Teaching Artists, participants will be registered for the March workshop with Alecia Beymer or the April workshop with Natalia Conte, but not both sessions. This program is for adult participants, aged 18 and older.

Closed captioning is available via Google Meet. We are happy to provide ASL interpretation. Please let us know at least one week in advance, if possible, if you would benefit from an ASL interpreter in attendance. If you would benefit from any other accessibility measures, please contact us by emailing [email protected]. Learn more about Google Meet’s built-in accessibility features here.