Mirror Images: Writing About Family (Limited Offering) – New!
Adult Multi-Week | Registration opens 11/5/2025 9:00 AM EST
Family is often an integral but tricky part about personal essay. Learn about how masters of craft have dealt with writing about family: the boundaries (if any) there are when it is your story to tell, the way we use family members as reflections of ourselves, and how to reckon with the writing of it all.
- Students should bring something to write with.
Instructor speaks Japanese, but class will be held in English.
Accessibility notes: Many artmaking processes require the ability to sit or stand for extended periods of time, fine motor skills/finger dexterity, repetitive motions, vision, and some amount of physical strength. VisArts values making classes accessible to everyone, and is always happy to work with students to make accommodations when possible. Please reach out to info@visarts.org with specific questions related to accessibility or accommodations.
Paid studio access is available through our Studio Access Program. Please visit visarts.org for more information.
Classes are confirmed one week prior to the start date. In order to help us confirm classes, please register as early as possible.
- See special notes for materials requirements.
Emily Okamoto-Green
Emily Okamoto-Green is a half-Japanese essayist, poet, and animal lover. Originally from Shizuoka-ken, Japan's green tea capital, her family relocated to Richmond, VA in 1998. A 2018 Graduate of George Mason University’s Honors and English Honors College, she graduated from GMU again in 2021 with her MFA in Poetry. Her accolades include the Virginia Downs Poetry Award, the Joseph Lohman III Poetry Prize, The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center 2020 fellowship, YesPoetry Magazine’s Poet of the Month, and inaugural winner of the Berkey Essay Contest. Her life highlights include Arthur Sze once saying her poem had a sense of wonder, bowing on stage at Carnegie Hall as a teenaged poet, and any time a cat or dog has come up to her without her first initiating the interaction. Emily tries to spend as much time as possible with her feet in the Atlantic or dreaming of them in the Pacific once more. She currently serves as the Writer in Residence for the Visual Arts Center of Richmond.
Instagram: @emi.dori