The Problem of Reading

“Be attuned to your own hunches, appetites, and longings, your own creative urges. And from there, be like a diviner, with passing mentions, quotes, footnotes, and possibly even just an evocative dust jacket, as your guideposts.” —Moyra Davey, Index Cards

We will meet once per month for 6 months to engage in a close reading of Moyra Davey’s book Index Cards as a generative investigation into our own creative process. Davey’s book delves into personal and theoretical explorations of reading, writing, thinking, art-making, travel, health, family, friendship, and how we live in and amongst our things. Her work is often fragmentary, always process-oriented, discursive, and multi-layered as she demonstrates the texture of her thinking on the page. Participants are asked to invest in a tangible note-taking practice while reading, whether in the pages of Davey’s book (encouraged!) or in a separate notebook alongside your reading. The goal is both immersion in what Davey shows us of her practice across multiple mediums, and a meta-reflection on one’s own relationship to reading, writing, thinking, and making. Each participant will have a chance to share some writing (it need not be polished) before/in our final meeting, inspired in some way by your notes produced throughout the workshop.

Enroll by Dec, 31st 2025 to receive Index Cards in the mail.

The workshop will be capped at 6 participants. If interest goes beyond 6 individuals, we will open a second section of the group.

Meeting Dates:

Sundays 12pm-2pm EST on Zoom

January through June: January 17, February 14, March 14, April 11, May 16, June 13

Payment is $175 per session, due on the day of each session via Zelle or Venmo.

Obsessions

“Wandering gives way to driven focus, if you look at it one way. Another way to frame it, though: The wandering is what allows for the focus. You don’t have one without the other.” —Deborah Shapiro, Watching the Detective

In this reading group, we will meet once per month for 6 months to examine how we are driven by obsession in our creative work. This is an ideal workshop for those who are between projects or have recently felt the inkling of something new. We will engage in a close reading of two recently published books, both driven by the writer’s obsession with a certain figure: Deborah Shapiro’s Watching the Detective, about her relationship to the TV character Columbo/the actor Peter Falk; and Jazmina Barrera’s The Queen of Swords, a prismatic reinvestigation of the Mexican writer Elena Garro. Both books pair a creative approach to research with the fragmentary, capacious qualities of the literary essay as a way to rapidly propel their questions forward and engage directly with the question of not knowing why we are so compelled by our obsessions. Through close reading and discussion, we will glean an understanding of how to trust the obsessive tendencies in our creative work — and thereby more readily lead us towards the shape of a book. Each participant will have a chance to share some writing (it need not be polished) before/in our final meeting, inspired by what you learned about your relationship to your creative obsessions during the workshop.

Enroll by Dec, 31st 2025 to receive both books in the mail!

The workshop will be capped at 6 participants. If interest goes beyond 6 individuals, we will open a second section of the group.

Meeting Dates:

Saturdays 12pm-2pm EST on Zoom

January through June: January 24, February 28, March 21, April 18, May 24, June 20

 Payment is $175 per session, due on the day of each session via Zelle or Venmo.