Free Gen for August: Leslie Pyo

The Free Generative Writing Workshops provide a space for career writers, curious beginners, writers of all levels and stages of life. Our goal is to make it easy to meet and learn from some of the most talented writer/teachers living in or passing through Iowa City. Every month a new writer leads a generative workshop, presenting a prompt inspired by their own preoccupations, passions, or interests.

Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry and PorchLight Literary Arts Center.

This month's leader: Leslie Pyo

Date: Sunday, August 18, 5:30-7 pm Central (3:30 P, 4:30 M, 6:30 E)

Platforms: You're invited to attend online or in person

• To attend online, register HERE. After registering, the Zoom link will be automatically emailed to you
• To attend in person, please join us at PorchLight Literary Arts Center, 1019 E. Washington, Iowa City. 

Leslie Pyo is a queer, mixed-race, second-gen Korean American writer and artist. She recently finished a 10-month Fulbright Creative Research grant for Creative Writing in Seoul, Korea. As a writer-in-residence at PorchLight, she’s continuing the work she started in Seoul — writing and storyboarding a bilingual picture book that uses surreal metaphors to explore the internal experiences of diasporic Korean family members. She hopes this book will be a space where people recognize and feel invited to share about felt instances from their lives that can be hard to talk about in diasporic families. 

Leslie graduated from VCUarts with a BFA in Painting & Printmaking and a minor in Art History in 2016. She’s illustrated two children’s books with the #WeNeedDiverseBooks-aligned nonprofit Shout Mouse Press, taught dance to kids aged 3-10, served as the editor of Women’s View Magazine, and worked as a journalist at The Juice Learning. She has yet to publish her creative writing and is excited to spend time creating, connecting and learning in the Iowa City community!