Claire van Winkle

Background

About Claire van Winkle

WEBSITES:*TEACHING PORTFOLIO: clairevanwinkle.education*WRITERS' WORKSHOP: rockawaywritersworkshop.orgBIO IN BRIEF: Claire Van Winkle is a poet, essayist, and literary translator. She received her BA at New York University, where she studied creative writing, linguistics, and French language. She has also pursued coursework in psychology. Claire completed her MFA in Poetry Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College CUNY. Her current creative projects include a full-length poetry collection and new translations of the verse and theory of Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Valéry.Claire currently teaches undergraduate creative writing, composition, literature, and grammar at Queens College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has extensive experience as a freelance writing consultant and ghostwriter. In addition to her creative, academic pursuits, and professional writing pursuits, Claire also works as a Recreational Therapist (RT) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her clinical work and applied research center on the development and implementation of Pedagogical Therapy, which applies linguistic theory and creative writing workshop methods to one-on-one and group therapy sessions for inpatient psychiatric patients. She is also the founder of the Rockaway Writers' Workshop—a community based organization dedicated to providing the highest quality classes to writers of all genre, education, and income backgrounds.ARTIST STATEMENT: Poetics comprises the essential grammar of the human condition. As a poet, I invoke the voices of diverse personas, plumb the depths of untold stories, and utilize the dynamics of linguistic technique and tradition to create unique experiences for my readers. I employ various techniques from a range of poetic forms and styles including but not limited to Japanese short form poetry, sestina, Anglo-Saxon verse, prose poetry, ekphraxis, and free verse. Overall, my work ranges from the deeply personal to the inherently political, giving voice to the oft unheard struggles of women, the mentally ill, and other socially marginalized groups.