WRITER'S GYM
Free Writing Workshops with the Free Nashville Poetry Library
Writer’s Gym is the writing workshop series run by the Free Nashville Poetry Library. Every month, we bring in a new facilitator to lead a process oriented workshop. While we encourage each facilitator to bring their unique passions and concepts to their Writing Gym, there are a few programmatic features we keep consistent:
- Emphasis on exploring the craft and practice of writing rather than working towards a prescriptive product
- Opportunities to share what you’ve worked on without criticism
- No pre-work, no expectation to pay, and all materials provided
Recent Writer's Gyms
JUNE
Who: Nathan Spoon
When: Friday, June 26th at 7pm CST
Where: Virtual - on Zoom
What: The poet William Stafford once said, “I try to write a poem a day.” Another poet asked, “And so what if you aren’t writing so well that day?” Stafford said, “Well then I lower my standards." Stafford was a mentor to Naomi Shihab Nye who has been Nathan's mentor. This workshop will explore how lowering our standards when we sit down to write can carry us through openness and curiosity into generosity. Who doesn’t want to be a little more open, curious, and generous?
Nathan Spoon is an autistic poet and author of The Importance of Being Feeble-Minded (Nine Mile Books, 2025). His poems and essays have appeared in American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Poetry, Poetry Daily, The Southern Review, swamp pink, and elsewhere. They currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
RSVP for the workshop here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTFYcsXTVNm1e0TaEJ8EszQX-P0BJLuP7AyVFEz22FUSL6dw/viewform?usp=header
Our Partners
These free community writing classes are possible because of the cooperation and support of various local organizations. Thank you to our past and present partners: Nashville Mask4Mask, Turnip Green Creative Reuse, COOP Gallery, Dozen Bakery, Jackalope Brewery, Elephant Gallery, Random Sample, drkmttr, Cosecha, Nashville Queer History, and Vanderbilt University Press.
If you are interested in donating venue space, materials, food, or money to this program, email us at nashvillepoetrylibrary@gmail.com