With pandemic protocols slowly winding down, Cortes Islanders can expect more in-person events and gatherings returning to the community, including a monthly poetry workshop led by Iris J. Gildea.

Using an expressive arts approach with meditations, the March 23 in-person poetry workshop at Manson's Hall was the first Gildea has offered since before the pandemic.

Gildea splits her time between living on Cortes Island and working as an associate professor at the University of St. Michael’s College, teaching in the Book and Media Studies Program.

Gildea uses poetic inquiry as a research method in her work and research around art, media, trauma and feminist studies. In community workshops, however, she offers poetic inquiry as a creative practice.  She is offering more poetry workshops on Cortes Island in the months to come.

Listen to the interview with Iris J. Gildea: