Writing workshop with state poet laureate coming to Laconia

CONCORD — New Hampshire Humanities is bringing a fall writing workshop The Mindful Storyteller in You, presented by Alexandria Peary, state poet laureate, to the Lakes Region. Laconia is one of three locations in September and October for the free workshops.

What stories connect community members to the Granite State? Each workshop will focus on stories that make connections to New Hampshire and on jumpstarting place-based stories. Participants will practice mindful writing techniques that offer a fresh way to start a story they may have contemplated telling for a while, and in the process, could discover unexpected stories that have been waiting to be told. Developing an openness to the present moment, participants will learn how to practice "moment tracking" to develop a path a story may take. The session will close with strategies to continue the creative momentum at home and give tools to finish the story. Peary will also talk about how to remain receptive to changes in the draft, keeping an open mind about its final form through genres like flash nonfiction, the personal essay and prose poetry.

The Laconia session is 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at Wayfarer Coffee Roasters downtown, 626 Main St. Additional workshops are Oct. 6 in Lebanon and Oct. 21 in Keene.

Peary's nine books include "Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing" and "Battle of Silicon Valley at Daybreak." The recipient of a 2020 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, she received the Iowa Poetry Prize and Best of NH for inspiring artist. She specializes in mindful writing, a topic described in her TEDx talk, “How Mindfulness Can Transform the Way You Write.” She founded Under the Madness Magazine, run by New Hampshire teens, and is a professor in the English Department at Salem State University.

The workshops are part of a multi-year initiative, Becoming New Hampshire. The series will culminate in a lively conversation between New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult and Peary as they discuss Picoult's long career as a virtuoso of the human story in "Jodi Picoult and the Writing Life: More Than a Good Story" during the New Hampshire Humanities’ Annual Celebration at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at The Palace Theatre in Manchester.

For questions, more information and to register, visit nhhumanities.org/mindful-storyteller or contact 603-224-4071 or programs@nhhumanities.org.