Author, Poet, Teacher
Featuring Online and Onground Classes—Creative Writing, Short Stories, and More "Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long." —Walker Evans, Photographer
New book just released: Barstow and Other Poems
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Ken Rodgers teaches and writes in Boise, ID. Ken has chased sheep across the desert, chased the enemy through the jungles of southeast Asia, run the headgate to capture cattle, pounded the keys of a calculator, pounded the keys of a typewriter, peddled mountain real estate, and tailed off recycled redwood at a finishing mill. An award-winning author, Ken explores the region where poetry and prose meet. His poems, short stories and essays have appeared in Eagle Magazine, The Farallon Review, 34th Parallel, Ascent Aspirations, Switchback, VerbSap, Absomaly, Tiny Lights, Fiction Attic, Roman Candles, and other publications. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco. Ken is a Pushcart Prize Nominee, and was nominated for Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, California, as well as for inclusion in Best New American Voices. His book of poetry, Trench Dining (Running Wolf Press), was published in 2003. His newest book, Barstow and Other Poems, was released this year. He has performed his work in libraries, hair salons, coffee shops, book fairs, wineries, movie theaters, colleges, pubs, book stores, and on public radio and television. He has also juried several writing contests. Along with his wife, Betty, Ken was a founding member of the Literary Arts Council of the Sebastopol Center for the Arts in Sebastopol, CA, and together they have hosted many classes, workshops, and readings. They have a son, James, and a daughter, Sarah, www.sarahrodgersart.com, as well as two granddaughters, Justyce and Jayden. Ken is available to help you spice up your writing. Whether you are a committed writer trying to start or finish a book, a budding poet, or a businessperson trying to discover better ways to express yourself, Ken's instruction and advice are invaluable. Working with him will bring dramatic changes to your writing. "I am now taking my fourth on-line class with Ken. I know without a doubt that his lectures will
both expand my knowledge and serve as a taking-off point to learn and explore more on my own. His critiques, always thoughtful and honest, challenge me to rework my poems and grow as a writer. More though, Ken's own academic curiosity and commitment as a writer inspires and compels us, his students." --Nancy Cavers Dougherty
Go to our "Online Classes" page on this website or contact us today to learn more about our creative writing classes and workshops. |
A conversation with Ken Rodgers -- July 5, 2008 Editor: You seem to be involved in nearly every literary activity one can imagine. You are an author of poetry, short stories, essay and a novel, as well as an avid and voracious reader. You teach online classes and private workshops in various locations. How do you manage all this and still keep your sanity? Ken: Sanity . . . what sanity? Sanity probably has zilch to do with my writing, although I believe some people, Kurt Vonnegut for one (by his own admission), wrote or write to maintain sanity. The search, by creative writing, to discover what dwells inside my brain vis a vis the rest of the universe seems to be compulsive and mostly fun. I don't do all things writing at one time--I compose poems for a few years, then whether from ennui or frustration, I go on to short stories, or essays, or what have you. As for teaching--I teach for what it teaches me, about writing and people. I teach because it allows me a community of like-minded folk. Editor: Like-minded folk in what way? Ken: Curious people. People who think they have something to say and want the world to know what they have to say. People who want to discover the answers to their own curiosity during the process when pen meets paper, fingers meet keyboard. People who want to turn curiosity into something to say. Editor: How do you feel when, through their own writing, you see your students find the answers they seek? Ken: I feel elated, satisfied, gratified, and in some ways envious. Writing is an intensely personal--often lonely--business. When it allows us a peek at insight, it is one of the best experiences an artist can have. I crave that emotional surge and don't mind sharing what I know to help others experience the elation, too. |
Now teaching workshops in the Boise area. Photo by Maureen
Lomasney, Graton, CA |
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Contact us
to learn how to invigorate your creative writing. |
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Services Available From Ray Holley's
column, Main Street, of the Healdsburg
Tribune: "Healdsburg novelist
Jean Hegland says this about Ken: 'His commitment to writing spans
many years, and I have admired his work for nearly that long.
He has a fine eye and an excellent ear and a huge and courageous
heart. Whatever his subject, his writing is always
unflinchingly honest, and I've grown to depend on the way that
honesty both scathes and celebrates the subjects he writes
about.'" Webmaster:
BK Publications betty@kennethrodgers.com |
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