Poetry Workshop: To the Silenced
On Saturday, April 26, participants attended a poetry workshop organized by the department of Humanities and coordinated by literature instructors, Omar Baz Radwan and Zein Shweiry.
This interactive poetry workshop entitled “To the Silenced: Poetry as a means of performing identity” engaged participants with hands on activities in basic poetry writing skills and performance.
The workshop started off with a brief talk on theoretical-pedagogical approaches to the concept of identity/politics in spoken word poetry and performance. Afterwards, participants worked in groups to create and recite their own works. An LAU student expressed his enthusiasm, stating:”I never thought poetry could be so much fun!”
Participants also watched video samples of slam poetry performers (local and international) and saw a live performance by an LAU slam poet. Finally, the concept of Digital Humanities was introduced, which was intriguing due to its novelty and innovative use of technology and concrete literature.
Workshops of this caliber are very much a necessity at LAU as they provide a means of reaching out to the community. Interim Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Nashat Mansour, was very much impressed with the turnout. Ranya Radwan, participant and editor at Now Lebanon News, considers it “one of the best and only poetry workshops dealing with performance, identity and digital technologies.”