Description
Welcome to Button University!
Sign up today for Hailey Tran’s 2026 Multi-Week Workshop!
Author of AN EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE
Poets as Historians and Record Keepers
Artists have often been bestowed with the responsibility of recording truth, stories, and history through their work. Poets, in particular, use the pen as testimony: a vehicle to let the world know they have been witnesses to events both big and small, earth-shattering and ordinary alike. Historical events, as they touch our memory through media, textbooks, and legal documents, are often filtered through the perspectives of those in power. Who has the right to write history, and what role do poets play in challenging dominant sociopolitical narratives shaped by extremity and division?
In this workshop, poets will create their own poetic artifacts as nuanced responses to the world unfolding around them. Each week, we will turn to poets of witness and writers responding to political catastrophe, exploring how their work illuminates perspectives that might otherwise remain absent from historical memory. Participants do not need to arrive with any pre-made material or poems; however, it is important to consider which historical or current events you might like to reimagine, rewrite, or challenge.
Have questions? Visit the Button Workshop FAQ page or contact support@buttonpoetry.com