Presents the 2025…
Renaissance: Making the Old New
In 2021, the former Festival of Music, Film, Literature, and Art expanded to include the Seahawk Writing Conference, a free, one-day event where writers from Broward College and the community came together virtually for workshops and craft talks.
The first year was about showing up. The words, creativity, and inspiration are sometimes hard to come by, but when the time and space are set aside when we show up with the intention to put in the work, the sometimes elusive Muse sees our efforts, and the words come.
The second year was about writing ourselves in. Over the past few years, we have called out and named the injustices and chaos surrounding us. With this upcoming conference, let’s call out what we want to see. Let’s come together to write ourselves in and become our own heroes, our own protagonists in the life unfolding before us.
The third year under the umbrella of SpringFest, we are asking our participants to own their creativity, listen to the impulse that beats inside of them and allow it to play out in ways that they might not have imagined.
This year will be our first year in person (7200 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines Florida; Building 68: Student Life Activity Center), and we would love to have you there.
We look forward to seeing you on Friday, March 14, 2025. Stay tuned for registration information and other updates.
Students, staff, faculty, and community members are welcome to join us. Writers of all levels and genres should not miss this free event.
Location: 7200 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines Florida; Building 68: Student Life Activity Center
9:00 AM – 9:20 AM
Welcome Session
- Introduction to the conference
- Overview of the schedule
Session 1 | 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Universal Monsters: An Exploration of the Eternal Stories
Presented by: Bryan D. Dietrich
I will be discussing the importance of mythology throughout my work–from ancient hero to superhero, angel to alien, skin walker to sky walker, sea trek to star trek, vampire to Venom. I will also explore ways for participants to incorporate pop culture into their own work, both the benefits and pitfalls, as well as how they might use other media to rejuvenate their writing. It is my belief that all literature draws on a well of myth, be it ancient, modern, or deeply personal. Myth didn’t stop with mummies and marble. It continues in and through us, as long as we continue to marvel.
Bio:
Session 2 | 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Move Me: A Poetry + Yoga Workshop
Presented by: Catherine Esposito Prescott
For the past thirty years, I’ve practiced yoga and writing. Each is a constant, separate thread woven into the fabric of my life. In this workshop, we’ll discuss how our practices and hobbies influence our creative work. We’ll also explore the yogic technology of stilling the mind, and we’ll dive into the subconscious from that place of deep quiet.
Bio:
Catherine Esposito Prescott is the author of Accidental Garden, which won Gunpowder Press’s 2022 Barry Spacks Poetry Prize as well as two chapbooks. Her poems have been published in many literary journals and anthologies; recent poems appear or are forthcoming in Colorado Review, Josephine Quarterly, NELLE, and Poets Reading the News. Prescott is the co-founder of SWWIM and editor-in-chief of SWWIM Every Day. In addition to her work in poetry, Prescott teaches yoga philosophy and leads yoga and writing retreats. See http://catherineespositoprescott.com.
WEBSITE + SOCIAL MEDIA
W: https://www.catherineespositoprescott.com/
IG: @catprescott
Session 3 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Writing through Loss and What We Gain
Presented by: Denise Duhamel (Keynote Speaker)
The elegy is a way to remember, honor, and memorialize people, places, and things that are no longer here. Often our most personal losses are also ones most universally felt by others. Poetry is a way to lament and reflect, and bring what we have lost “alive” through words. It invites others to do the same. Poet Denise Duhamel will guide participants through writing prompts and share her own poems. We will discuss sentimentality versus sentiment and how to engage readers through specific detail.
Bio:
Denise Duhamel’s most recent books of poetry are Pink Lady (Pitt Poetry Series, 2025), Second Story (2021) and Scald (2017). Blowout (2013) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In Which (2024) is a winner of the Rattle Chapbook Prize. She and the late Maureen Seaton co-authored five collections, the most recent of which was CAPRICE (Collaborations: Collected, Uncollected, and New) (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2015). Her nonfiction publications include The Unrhymables: Collaborations in Prose (with Julie Marie Wade, Noctuary Press, 2019). A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, she is a distinguished university professor in the MFA program at Florida International University in Miami.
Session 4 | 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM
Happy Hour & Reading
In celebration of a day well spent, bring your favorite dessert, and join everyone for a reading. Attendees and facilitators can share their work either previously written or inspired by today’s events.
