INSTRUCTORS

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Erika Howsare is a poet and nonfiction writer whose second book, How Is Travel a Folded Form?, was published in 2018 by Saddle Road Press. She’s also published poetry in numerous journals, plus essays, interviews and reviews in The Rumpus, The Millions, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, and other outlets. A new chapbook, Several Circles, is coming out this year from Dancing Girl Press. A Pennsylvania native, she earned an MFA from Brown University and has lived in Virginia since 2001. She is a longtime local journalist and often posts photos of the ground at erikahowsare.com.

​

WHAT WRITERHOUSE STUDENTS ARE SAYING ABOUT ERIKA

“Erika is a wonderful teacher, a very good reader, a supportive critic. It was a real privilege to work with someone so open to other people’s ideas and responsive to hard work.”

“She shared interesting writing from other writers, offered compelling writing prompts, and provided thoughtful feedback on workshopped pieces.”

“Erika was creative in her instruction in that she varied the types of topics she addressed, all of which I found to be of value (journaling, prose poetry, forms, presenting two poets whose writing styles were used to spark our own). Her comments on our poems were not dominant, she did not “out speak” our own, but were offered thoughtfully and interspersed with comments from class members.”

“Erika is knowledgeable and understands poetry. Her comments were consistently clear and helpful. She was encouraging and diplomatic, without gushing false praise or overlooking places where the poem confuses or tries to accomplish too much. She managed her time well and fairly and encouraged everyone to speak. She was able to highlight the best places in a difficult poem, and offered writing prompts.”

“Erika is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Her comments have been extremely helpful.”

“Great moderation of group, great modeling of how to offer useful feedback, deep knowledge of poetry/writing process.” 

“Erika is well-informed, patient, generous, and an excellent critic.”