Writer’s Workshop | Loud and Proud – A Queer Workshop
What does queerness feel like? What does it cost? What does it mean and what does it refuse to mean? These are the questions at the heart of Loud and Proud, a workshop for queer poets at any stage of their writing journey. Bring a finished poem, a messy draft, one good line, or nothing at all. Together with poet Ariana Matondo, we’ll read, discuss, and help each other discover what each poem wants to become. Whether it’s a form, a subject, or an assumption, we invite work that queers something. Experimental work and hybrid forms are especially encouraged.
Open to all experience levels. Just bring your poem or draft along with a journal.
Includes admission to Art After Dark. Take in the atmosphere before or after the workshop, wander the galleries, and enjoy Café Clementine’s L’Apéro hours with a selection of beverages and savory and sweet bites.
Thur, June 18, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
$10 for MFA Members
$20 for Not-Yet-Members
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Become a member today and enjoy all the benefits membership at the MFA offers!
MFA Members enjoy free admission for an entire year, early access to special exhibitions, discounts at the MFA Shop and Café Clementine, special member-only exclusive events, and more. Bring the whole family!
Ariana Matondo, poet, editor, and teacher
Ariana Matondo (they/she) is a queer disabled Tanzanian-American poet, editor, and teacher based in Tampa, Florida. Winner of the Zora Neale Hurston Award for poetry (2025), they were named a finalist for the Disquiet Prize for poetry (2025). They are also a recipient of the Sundress Publications Fellowship (2025), Vermont Studio Center Fellowship (2024), Light for Public Health Poetry Prize (2024), and the Bettye Newman Poetry Prize (2024-2025). Matondo has published and forthcoming works in Light Magazine, Honey Literary Magazine, The Common, and more. As the poetry editor for Creation Magazine and CM Editorial House, they are currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at the University of South Florida. Find more at: arianakijamatondo.com.
