Recap: Aura’s Workshop with Tina Braziel

Aura held a writing workshop led by Tina Braziel last Thursday, Jan. 27. Braziel is a beloved English professor within the College of Arts and Sciences at UAB. A first generation college student, she received a B.A. in Intercultural Studies at the University of Montevallo, an M.A. in Poetry at U.A.B. and an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Oregon. Her debut book, “Known by Salt,” was the recipient of the 2017 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. She directed a workshop discussing the book with Aura members last spring, and Aura also released an article detailing that workshop. 

In 2018, Braziel was awarded a fellowship for the Alabama State Council for the Arts. She is the Program Director of the Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop, a program sponsored by UAB’s English department that provides mentorship to high-school-age creative writers. She is also good friends with Aura’s other long-standing collaborator, Ashley M. Jones. Perhaps most important of all (to us, anyway), Braziel is former Editor-in-Chief of Aura.

In this workshop, Braziel reflected on many of her own influences, ranging from women’s experiences in society to her own relationships with family. Attendees also got to ask questions about Braziel’s education and how it supported her growth as a writer.

“I liked Tina’s discussion about the way in which women, including herself, are often dismissed and stereotyped when placed against social gender expectations,” wrote workshop attendee, Kailtin Harris. “I also really appreciated the takeaway from her grad school experience that she shared: both appreciating the analytical study of literature and placing value on internal/emotional interpretation.”

There was a short assignment attendees participated in, which included making to-do lists, small poems that are based upon any monotonous everyday task. A few such poems are anonymously included below: