If your organization is interested in booking Samantha for any of the below workshops, please contact us by using the Booking Form |
Samantha has facilitated poetry writing workshops in South Africa, Trinidad, and all across the States for people of all ages and walks of life. Her belief is that writing creatively is a muscle—one that she likes to empower people to develop. She designs her interactive lessons on a case by case basis according to the needs of a particular group or organization. The aim of Samantha’s workshops is to make poetry as inviting as she knows it could be. She has been known to turn people on to the craft after showing varying degrees of resistance. Samantha’s imaginative exercises work to stimulate the creative mind of participants, allowing them to draw out what is already inside of them in the form of beautiful poetry.
Out of fear, Samantha wrote poetry for 10 years before she ever uttered a word of it to an audience. Now, it is impossible for her to imagine her life as a poet without the stage as a forum for sharing her work with the world. In this workshop, Samantha dispels some fears commonly associated with sharing poems with an audience and demystifies the notion of “performance.” In this fun, interactive workshop, Samantha gives practical tips to empower participants to speak their truth.
Educators and school administrators seek Samantha’s guidance on how to usher their students toward poetry appreciation. How do we as educators make poetry fun and accessible for all levels of development? Samantha has designed this highly functional workshop specifically to empower educators with the theory and practice necessary for integrating poetry into their curriculum. The length of the workshop is flexible tailoring to the needs and budgets of each school or organization. Her interactive teaching style invites educators into the world of joy that teaching poetry can be.
Widely dubbed a national treasure, Odetta, Queen of Folk, remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Geared towards writers interested in writing for children, in this lecture, Samantha reconstructs her process for writing a picture book about this legendary figure, discussing the balance between entertaining and educating. Referencing Jonah Winter, Aracelis Girmay, and Tonya Cherie Hegamin, as her primary influences in the creation of Little Odetta, Samantha touches on how writing for younger audiences helped push her craft as a poet. She also discusses the picture book's evolution into a performance piece--which she will present in its entirety.
Gearing this talk specifically towards teenagers with risky behavior, Samantha discusses her relationship with her pen pal of many years, Kenneth Foster Jr. who was wrongly sentenced to death row for 10 years. A writer himself, Kenneth used words as his sword and his shield against oppression. His wielding of words saved him from state sanctioned execution on August 30, 2007, making Texas history. In this inspirational talk, Samantha shares Kenneth’s story in a moving, personal way, instilling in each listener the ability for words to not only transform your life, but to save it.
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