Works of literature can’t enact political change, they can’t stop bombs from dropping on unarmed civilians, they cannot lift chains of oppression. Cathy Park Hong’s essay ‘Against Witness’ in Poetry magazine asked: ‘Is it enough that a poem ‘remembers?’

Is it enough that writing offers us a way to get closer to the feelings of turmoil and distress?

The term “poetry of witness” was initially coined by poet Carolyn Forché in her 1993 introduction to Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness. Forché defines the poetry of witness as inhabiting the social sphere, a space between the personal and political. About her own work, Forché said, “The voice in my first book doesn’t know what it thinks, it doesn’t make any judgments. All it can do is perceive and describe and use language to make some sort of re-creation of moments in time. But I noticed that the person in the second book makes an utterance.”

Using the work of Forché as a guidepost, participants in this workshop, will explore the role of writing as a witness and a voice during times of war, displacement, genocide and trauma. Through examples and writing prompts we’ll probe into literature encompassing first-hand accounts of witness of extremity (for instance, a prisoner of war) and “secondary” witnessing by those who experience an event through news reports, images, interviews, or other documents. We’ll also think about proximity and the space between the “personal” and the “political,” or writing personal tragedy as witness. 

Rayanne Haines is a producer, podcaster, educator and award-winning poet. Her third collection, Tell The Birds Your Body Is Not A Gun (Frontenac House), won the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson, Alberta Literary Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for both the BPAA Robert Kroetsch Award, and the ReLit Award. Her poetic memoir, What Kind of Daughter? (Frontenac House, 2024) was shortlisted the 2024 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. Rayanne hosts the Crow Reads podcast, is the President of the League of Canadian Poets, and an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University. She teaches and writes with vulnerability as a guiding force.