X for Poets: Children's Book Writing for Poets with Lesléa Newman, Sarah Sassoon, and Rich Michelson

Please note that each faculty member will lead one session of this series, though they will all plan together.

Session 1: 11/08/26 - Lesléa Newman

The ABCs of Poetry: Writing in Verse for Children and Teens

Formal poetry is poetry that sticks to a traditional pattern or structure and often uses rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, as well as other poetic techniques. Writing it is very much like solving a puzzle, and it is thrilling to watch all the pieces fall into place! Young readers love poetry and the seemingly contradictory but actually complementary elements of predictability and surprise it holds. 

This lecture presents an overview of poetic forms, including haiku, pantoum, sestina, ballad, ghazal, and villanelle, with many examples of poems written for very young children, middle-grade readers, teens, and adults. We will discuss the poems of Langston Hughes, Jane Yolen, Meg Kearney, Richard Wright, and Dr. Seuss, among others. The goal of the workshop is to demystify formal poetry, which some poets—even those with years of experience—find intimidating, and inspire writers to try their hand at it to see how much fun it can be to write formal verse for children and teens. Some time will be set aside for writing based on prompts.

Session 2: 11/15/26 - Sarah Sassoon

The Power of Image in Picture Books: Writing Through Objects and Memory

In this generative workshop, we will explore how picture books begin—not with plot, but with image.

Guided by my picture book Shoham’s Bangle, which is inspired by my grandmother’s journey from Iraq, we will enter storytelling through objects that hold memory.

In children’s literature, a single image can carry an entire story. A bangle, a pot on the stove, a thread, a stone—these are not just details; they are emotional anchors. They allow young readers to feel before they fully understand.

Together, we will write into these objects. We will ask: what does this object remember? What story does it hold? How can it speak simply, yet carry something vast?

Through generative prompts, we will explore:

• How image drives story in picture books

• How to create emotional resonance through concrete detail

• How to write with clarity, simplicity, and depth for young readers

• How objects can hold themes of home, memory, displacement, and belonging

This workshop is an invitation to trust image—to let the smallest details open into meaningful stories for children.

Come with curiosity, and if you wish, bring an object that holds a story.

Session 3: 11/22/26 - Rich Michelson 

Poetry for Children, Teens, Adults: Commonalities and Differences

Great poetry is great poetry, whether aimed at children, teens, or adults. With any luck we will experience all three phases of life. Yet some of our finest poets are unable to bridge the divide, while others write magnificently for different audiences. 

This workshop will be geared to those writers hoping to spread their wings and broaden their audience. We will look at examples of award-winning adult poets who have been able to connect with children, and well-known children’s authors who’ve broken through writing for adults. We will read poets who are equally at ease in both camps: Richard Wilbur, Ted Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye, Nikki Giovanni, and others. And we’ll try our hand at crossing those boundaries ourselves.

***

Lesléa Newman has created 90 books for readers of all ages including the memoirs-in-verse, I Carry My Mother and I Wish My Father; the novel-in-verse, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; the poetry chapbook, I Remember: Hachiko Speaks; the short story collection, A Letter to Harvey Milk; and the children’s books, The Babka Sisters, Gittel’s Journey, Song of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Something Sweet: A Sitting Shiva Story. 

Individual poems have appeared in dozens of literary publications including Lilith, The Sun, Moment Magazine, Tikkun, The Jewish Writing Project, Calul Journal, and Judith Magazine. In addition, her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Serbian, Kazakh, and Chinese. Lesléa’s awards and honors include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, two National Jewish Book Awards, two American Library Association Stonewall Honors, the Massachusetts Book Award, six Pushcart Prize nominations, the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award, the Keshet Foundation Hachamat Lev Award, the Burning Bush Poetry Award, the Matthew Shepard Foundation Making a Difference Award, and a Christopher Medal. From 2008 – 2010, she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA. 

Her newest poetry collection, The Last Flame Last, a suite of 18 post-October 7th poems, will be published in November 2026 by Finishing Line Press.

Sarah Sassoon is an Australian-born Iraqi Jewish writer, poet, and educator. Her work explores Iraqi Jewish history, exile, resilience, and the 2,600-year-old culture of Babylonian Jews, with particular attention to Middle Eastern women’s experiences. She is the author of the award-winning picture books Shoham’s Bangle and This Is Not a Cholent, and co-author of The In-Between (Verlagshaus Berlin). Her poetry micro-chapbook This Is Why We Don’t Look Back won the Harbor Review Jewish Women’s Poetry Prize. Her collection, An Oud in the Orchestra (Keter Publishing), is forthcoming. Her novel-in-verse Baghdad Girl was shortlisted for the Wingate Award 2024.

Richard Michelson’s books for children, teens, and adults have been named among the

Ten Best of the Year by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and the New Yorker; and

among the Best Dozen of the Decade by Amazon.com. Michelson has received a National Jewish Book Award and two Sydney Taylor Gold Medals from the Association of Jewish Libraries. Six of Michelson’s children’s books were PJ Library selections. His poetry collections include Sleeping as Fast as I Can (Slant), More Money than God (Pitt Poetry Series), and Battles and Lullabies (U of Illinois Press). The Jerusalem Post says: “Michelson has a profound grasp of Jewish history, of antisemitism and pogroms, of moral teachings and midrash, of sinners and prophets . . . [Michelson’s] is an indispensable Jewish voice in this generation.”

A native of East New York, Brooklyn, Michelson served two terms as Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, where he hosts Northampton Poetry Radio and owns R. Michelson Galleries.

*Ticket Price: As we want our events to be accessible to all, our tickets are offered free of charge. Yet if you're able to donate—perhaps $18, or some multiple of 18, which in Jewish tradition signifies wishing long life and good luck to the recipient of the gift—all proceeds will go directly to supporting Yetzirah, making more events like this possible.

** If this fee is a hardship, Yetzirah offers a pay-what-you-can option for workshop participation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds, but please contact Program Coordinator Kyra Lisse at klisse@yetzirahpoets.org if you would like a sliding-scale ticket. 

Yetzirah is a nonprofit organization, and any gift you make is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.