Press Release
"Writing a poem is one of the most authentic and human experiences," Edward A. Dougherty says. The author of four chapbooks, or small collections of poetry, and two full books of poetry, he will be teaching others how to write their own verses. "It's not weird or strange, and its certainly not reserved for the so-called 'experts.' " An Associate Professor of English at Corning Community College, Dougherty has taught creative writing workshops at libraries, arts centers and homeless shelters. "When people are given a chance to express the powerful experiences or mixtures of emotions they've had, poetry comes easily." He uses a variety of exercise to get the creative juices flowing, and those activities are gathered in his textbook, Exercises for Poets: Double Bloom. The book moves from exploring language to make words more precise and concrete to generating poems from a wide range of sources, like artwork or repeated phrases or a little bit of research, to finally revising poems for greater effect. Dougherty says that the book and his classes put the writer's experience up front. "Rather than start with my ideas about poetry or writing or whatever," he says, "I'd rather give people a challenge or puzzle or game from which they write." By doing the exercises and sharing their writings, students discuss far more writing principles than what he set out to teach. "Plus, it's more fun. Classes are dynamic and interactive." Dougherty earned his Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from Bowling Green State University in 1991 and has been writing and publishing poems ever since. He has won awards for his work, such as the New Eden Chapbook Award for his collection called Small Galaxies and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities. He has also presented at the national conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) as well as at teacher's conferences in New York State. "The process of writing poems just never ends," he says. "There is so much to learn that no matter how much I think I know, there is more to learn. It keeps me humble before the craft." |
