Exhibit in the library : Heather Madden’s poetry building workshop

When you come in the library over winter break, please take a moment to stop and enjoy the exhibit cases right across from the main InfoBar.  They currently display the work of students who just completed IA 281:  Band, Cast, Sedge, Bask: Building a Collection of Poems.   Heather Madden, Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, taught this workshop in the fall for advanced students of poetry.   Her students studied collections of poems and the organization of chapbooks (defined as a small collection of poetry, generally no more than 40 pages, that often centers on a specific theme and is a format well suited to smaller print-runs).   The Hampshire College Library has many examples of chapbooks in its collections, including a large number in the Robert Seydel Collection, particularly works by Ugly Duckling Presse which were donated by Robert’s sister, Gail Seydel.    For her workshop, Heather’s students spent a class period in our Special Collections looking at all sorts of examples of different book formats.   The students in IA 281 then wrote and revised their poems, and subsequently designed their own chapbooks.   You will see in the three exhibit cases that their chapbooks range from 8.5×11 documents, to hand-stitched copies, to accordion books.    Take a few minutes to stop and appreciate their hard work and creative efforts!