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The FWR is pleased to offer this FREE class thanks to the generosity of instructors Tessa Fontaine and Jessica Jacobs, for those impacted by Hurricane Helene and other difficult life events.

Writing about difficult events can offer a release, a way of approaching something big and emotional with thought, care, curiosity and a commitment to careful articulation. All of us in Western North Carolina have been impacted by Hurricane Helene in varying degrees, and in this free workshop offered by prose writer Tessa Fontaine and poet Jessica Jacobs, we will navigate the challenging terrain of writing about the storm and its aftermath. There's no obligation to write about it directly and all levels of writing experience are welcome. Instead, we'll offer examples from other writers to examine the ways they've approached difficult events, and offer writing prompts that will allow you to explore whatever comes up, with optional sharing at the end. The aim is to offer folks a safe, contained space to explore the complicated emotions that have arisen in the wake of the storm, and to do so while connecting with others in this beloved community.

TESSA FONTAINE is the author of The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts, A New York Times Editors' Choice; A Southern Living Best Book of 2018; An Amazon Editors' Best Book of 2018; A Refinery29 Best Book of 2018; A New York Post Most Unforgettable Book of 2018. Tessa spent the 2013 season performing with the last American traveling circus sideshow, the World of Wonders. An essay about the sideshow won the 2016 AWP Intro Award in Nonfiction. Her writing can be found in Outside online, The New York Times, Glamour, The Believer, LitHub, Creative Nonfiction, The Normal School, Seneca Review, DIAGRAM, New Orleans Review, and more. She won a Tin House residency to work on her novel, The Red Grove, published by FSG in 2024.

JESSICA JACOBS is the author of unalone, poems in conversation with the Book of Genesis (Four Way Books, March 2024); Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going (Four Way Books, 2019), one of Library Journal’s Best Poetry Books of the Year, winner of the Devil’s Kitchen and Goldie Awards, and a finalist for the Brockman-Campbell, American Fiction, and Julie Suk Book Awards; Pelvis with Distance (White Pine Press, 2015), a biography-in-poems of Georgia O’Keeffe, winner of the New Mexico Book Award in Poetry and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award; and co-author of Write It! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire (Spruce Books/Penguin RandomHouse). She is the founder and executive director of Yetzirah: A Hearth for Jewish Poetry.