Stephen Kuusisto, blind poet and the first guest speaker in the Writers Workshop, sits at a desk with his guide dog

New Writers Lane Series: First Up, Author Stephen Kuusisto

Calling all aspiring writers! LightHouse is thrilled to announce Writers Lane, an online workshop series that runs semimonthly through August. Each month a visiting author will give students an overview of the genre, give an assignment for the following week, and provide spoken feedback on a portion of the work as well as suggestions for next steps.
 
This virtual writing workshop series will also help you grow confident in several genres: poetry, personal essay/op ed, journalism and fiction. It will also address professionalism including: how to submit your work, how to pitch ideas to editors, and what it takes to have a writing career.
 
This month features author Stephen Kuusisto who has been blind since earth. Kuusisto’s works in include: Planet of the Blind: A Memoir, Have Dog Will Travel: A Poet’s Journey with an Exceptional Labrador and Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening. A Fulbright scholar, Kuusisto has taught at the University of Iowa, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Ohio State University. He currently teaches at Syracuse University as University Professor; Director of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach, Burton Blatt Institute.

Growing up in the 1950s, Kuusisto had been taught to “pass” as sighted using techniques such as pressing a book up against his nose to read and memorizing all the routes he needed to travel. When Kuusisto was 38, he lost his job. He lived in a small town and realized he would need to leave in order to find work. “I’m not going to make it in the larger world unless I know how to actually navigate the larger world,” he said in a 2018 PBS Newshour broadcast reflecting on the epiphany he had when he lost his job in his 30s. He then made the decision to get a guide dog and that changed his life. He chronicles his journey with his first guide dog, Corky, in Have Dog, Will Travel.
 
Learn more about Kuusisto at StephenKuusisto.com.
 
Read a PBS News Hour article and listen to an April 9, 2018 interview with Kuusisto.
 
The workshops with Kuusisto take place April 22 & 29 from 10:00 am to 11:30 am. RSVP online for Writers Lane at LightHouse or contact Sabrina Bolus at SBolus@lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-6707.
 
Future workshops in this series:
 
May 20 & 27: Journalism with Andrew Leland
June 17 & 24: Fiction with James Tate Hill
July 15 & 22: Personal/opinion essay with M. Leona Godin
August 19 & 26: Professionalism with all authors