Twelve Gates is so excited to announce the first writing workshop of our upcoming event series, THE POETS’ STUDIO. In collaboration with Sanam Sheriff, we will be hosting monthly workshops and social gatherings for folks interested in connecting with others through poetry. Poets who attend April’s Writing Workshop will be given priority for April’s Revision Workshop at the end of the month.
Click here to RSVP to the Writing Workshop on April 8th, 2025 at 7pm.
About THE POETS’ STUDIO:
THE POETS’ STUDIO is a two-part monthly gathering for poets in Philadelphia who are interested in writing, revising, and connecting through poetry. We will be playful and rigorous, precise and expansive, providing a space for poets to commune, generate new writing, and workshop their poems.
THE WRITING WORKSHOP
Every first Tuesday, our Poet of the Month will give a reading and lead us through a generative writing workshop from 7pm to 8:30pm at 12G. A forthcoming Open Call will allow local poets to apply to feature for future sessions.
THE REVISION WORKSHOP
Every last Tuesday of the month, we will workshop three poets with priority given to those who attended The Writing Workshop. Those on the waitlist will be given priority the following month. Workshops will be reflective, curious, and critical, but ultimately steered by the poet themself. Facilitated by Sanam Sheriff, The Revision Workshop will take place from 7pm to 8:30pm at 12G.
Sanam Sheriff is a queer poet, artist, and educator from Bangalore, India. They have received support from the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Kundiman, Brew & Forge, The Watering Hole, and The Seventh Wave, among others. Sanam’s work has been published in Indiana Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Academy of American Poets, Washington Square Review, Outlook India, and elsewhere. Sanam holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. They currently serve as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College where they organize the Reading Series. Sanam is working, with much love, on their debut poetry collection.
This Month’s Poet is Taylor Alyson Lewis, who will be giving a reading and leading us through this April’s writing workshop where poets will have the opportunity to generate and share new work.
Taylor Alyson Lewis (he/him) is a poet and educator. He holds a BA in English from Spelman College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden. At Rutgers, he taught first-year composition and was a research assistant and project manager at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice. He has also been a visiting instructor in creative writing at Bryn Mawr College and a high school English and Social Studies teacher. Taylor has received fellowships to support his writing from Lambda Literary, Fine Arts Work Center, Tin House Summer Workshop, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, where he was awarded the Queer Writer Fellowship in Prose. His work appears in Nat. Brut, Poetry Online, Voicemail Poems, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere.