“Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.”
“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”
“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.”
Soul Bone℠ is a hub for poets and writers of all skill levels and in all phases of their careers. In our online literary festivals and literary center workshops and readings, we encourage vulnerable, creative exploration and experimentation; use spirituality, meditation, and self-care as tools to open up the creative imagination; use writing as a healing modality; explore all aspects of craft; and aim to create an authentic, heart-centered community. We believe that, as poets and writers, we have an exceptional ability to embrace the unknown. We are able to communicate the unknowable, imagine the unimaginable, say the unsayable. We are the voices of the future, pointing to new ways of seeing and other ways of being.
Language, images, metaphors, and stories have power to move, transform, and bring change. At Soul Bone℠, we start with you—your vision and process as a writer. We hold space and provide nourishment as well as challenge to get messy, connect to your intuition, and help you journey into the wilderness of your creative imagination where writing finds its pulse.
Soul Bone℠ Literary Center
Soul Bone℠ offers tiny, winged courses that lift the spirit. Our Soul Bone℠ Literary Center offers generative workshops, prompt circles, readings, and master classes on pitching, publishing, creative process, and more. We are doing our utmost to keep our events at low cost. All events have full scholarship opportunities and coupon codes for discounts available to anyone on our mailing list (sign up on the contact page here). The sessions will be hosted by Nynke Passi with Jennifer or Eileen Espinoza, Emilie Lygren, and others. Some of our guests will be Mark Spragg, Kenny Kolter, Jennie Rothenburg, and more. Check out our upcoming events below or in our Calendar here. For a more detailed description, click here or below.
Soul Bone℠ Literary Festival
“This is an amazing festival. None better. And the scope of speakers, workshops is beyond compare. You’d never know it was coming over Zoom, the connection with like creatives and souls is mind blowing. Come check it out. Still another week of workshops/talks/readings and the best community ever.”
“Soul Bone has been a life changing experience I treasure daily. I am thrilled to be visiting Soul Bone and anchoring myself among the most incredible tribe of authentic creative souls I’ve ever met!”
“I’ve been to several Soul Bone conferences — really awesome experiences — nothing compares.”
“I had a wonderful residency. Everything here was very inspiring to me. Thank you for making this happen! It felt like a warm hug.”
Our Soul Bone℠ Literary Festivals are open to the public and held online via Zoom every February and every August / September. Our Fall ‘25 festival will be an MIU MFA Showcase and will take place from Aug. 18 -31 with a packed literary schedule. You can view all of our past festivals by clicking “festival overview” below. The Soul Bone℠ Literary Festival has traditionally coincided with the residencies of the MFA in Creative Writing at MIU, since both were founded and are directed by Nynke Passi. The festival is co-sponsored by Soul Bone℠ and MIU’s MFA in Creative Writing.
ZOOM REGISTRATION of SOUL BONE℠ EVENTS via EVENTBRITE
If you subscribe to our newsletter, we’ll send you regular coupons for discounts and update you on our offerings. Contact us at soulboneliterary@gmail.com or sign up below for our newsletter to get more information. If you want to learn more about our MFA in Creative Writing, contact Nynke Passi at npassi@miu.edu or check out MIU’s MFA in Creative Writing website here.
“When you’re young and you tell people you’re going to study art and poetry, they look at you as though you’re crazy. When you’re older and you tell people you studied art and poetry, they say, I wish I’d done that.”
Soul Bone℠ Overview
Soul Bone℠ Literary Center
Love to write? Our Soul Bone℠ literary center offers affordable online workshops and classes geared toward creative process, craft, and the intersection between writing, creativity, and healing. Please join us!
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Friends of Soul Bone℠
We are excited to introduce you to many communities, writers, and offerings we highly recommend to you!
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MIU’s MFA in Creative Writing
If you are thinking of joining MIU’s online MFA in creative writing, you can find out all you want to know here. We’ll introduce our faculty, some of our classes, and our teaching philosophy.
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Upcoming Workshops
Want to write and connect to a literary community? Find out about our upcoming workshops, which will be offered through our Soul Bone℠ literary center.
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Support Soul Bone℠
We have a crowdsourcing campaign going in order to better support the growth of Soul Bone℠. We use all donations and fees to pay our guests and offer low-cost or free events. We are so appreciative of your support!
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Upcoming Readings & Events
Feel like being inspired? All year, we offer free events and readings through our Soul Bone℠ literary center and literary festivals. We’ll start our summer offerings in July, 2023. Please join us!
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Soul Bone℠ News
Below news from Soul Bone and the literary community of MIU’s MFA in Creative Writing:
MIU MFA student Dominque Feloss won the 2024 John Lewis Writing Grant in fiction. Georgia Writers’ John Lewis Writing Grants are inspired by the late civil rights icon and his more than three decades of service as Georgia’s 5th District representative. The John Lewis Writing Grants will be awarded annually in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The purpose of the grants is to elevate, encourage, and inspire the voices of Black writers in Georgia. These grants are generously supported by the Georgia Council for the Arts.
Our graduate Emilie Lygren is publishing her MFA thesis, Once I Was a Stone, with Wayfarer Books. Read more here. “Emilie Lygren’s poems are pulse and heartbeat! Their clear vision restores our own bigger sight. Remember when we felt connected to everything? Emilie’s poems are gravity, immediate ground, wide horizon, ashes pitched off a cliff, creek stones carried up a mountain. I love their endearing truthfulness, beauty and lack of fear!” – Naomi Shihab Nye
Our MFA student Nate Hudson will be touring Australia in the summer of ‘25. Introducing Nate Faker - the long-awaited solo debut from Nathan Hudson, the founding member, vocalist and guitarist of iconic Australian alt-rock legends Faker. This electrifying new chapter will see Nate reimagine Faker’s iconic back catalogue, unveil unreleased gems, share stories from across the band’s illustrious career, and more. The tour will take place in Australia in July and August. You can find out more here.
StarWound present ‘Interiors Project’
The Anglophone Music Group “StarWound” flies from Greece and performs in six cities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa, presenting new songs in collaboration with prominent poetry professors, students of the universities and poets of the local communities. They are also stopping at M.I.U. to work with our MFA students and undergraduate English and Cinematic Arts and New Media Students for a lyric workshop, plus they are offering a concert at Café Paradiso in Fairfield, Iowa, on Friday October 25 starting at 7:30 PM CT.
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