Pursuing the Erotic

This is an expanded version of the three-hour workshop “Identifying (with) the Erotic” offered in July 2022. It progresses from initial references to erotica by old hands (Anaïs Nin), incidental practitioners (James Baldwin) and newer writers (Ruel Johnson) to consider other select works in prose, poetry, and comics. You do not have to have attended the 2022 workshop to enroll in this one.

The workshop continues the exploration of what makes the erotic not only a sensual genre but a life-affirming one with participants contributing their own writing as well as sourcing that of other practitioners. While creating sexy characters and scenes with stimulating language is part of the process, and knowing your audience is crucial (there is a difference between romance, erotica and pornography), the emphasis remains on craft and telling a story that engages readers’ imagination, exciting not only the body but all of the senses. And this without apology.

Robert Edison Sandiford is the author of several books, among them the award-winning The Tree of Youth & Other Stories, And Sometimes They Fly (a novel) and Sand for Snow (memoir).  He has also written graphic novels for NBM Publishing.  In 2003, he and the poet Linda M. Deane founded the Barbadian cultural resource ArtsEtc Inc.  He has worked as a publisher, teacher and, with Warm Water Productions, producer.  His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in journals, magazines and anthologies.  Currently working on another novel,his most recent titleis Fairfield from DC Books.