Begins Sunday, July 19, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Sundays, 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM Eastern

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PDT): 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM / Chicago (CDT): 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM / New York (EDT): 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM / London (BST): 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM / Berlin (CEST): 8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Now Enrolling! Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Bio

Born in Korea and raised in East Africa, Dr. Melanie Hyo-In Han (she/her) is a creative writing instructor who recently moved from the U.S. to the U.K. She is the author of five poetry collections: No Way of Returning Home (The Poetry Lighthouse, 2026), Passing Notes in Secret (boats against the current, 2025), Abecedarian: Banff, Canada (kith books, 2025), My Dear Yeast (Milk & Cake Press, 2023), and Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips (Finishing Line Press, 2021). She has also translated several collections of Spanish poetry for Hebel Ediciones. Her work has been supported by fellowships from Gladstone's Library, The Society of Authors, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Kees Eijrond Foundation, Casa Uno, and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. An award-winning poet, Han has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net, and recognition from The International Human Rights Festival, "Boston in 100 Words," Valiant Scribe, The Lyric Magazine, and elsewhere. She leads craft-focused workshops for organizations including The Poetry School, Sundress Academy for the Arts, The Poetry Lab, Being Human Festival, and the Migrant Writing Project. She also teaches undergraduate English classes in London. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Surrey, an M.F.A. in Poetry and Translation from Emerson College (where she taught in the Writing Studies Program and served as an ELL Consultant), and an M.Ed. in Secondary English and Secondary Spanish from Gordon College. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Flora Fiction, the Two Languages Prize Editor at Gasher Press, and Board Reader at Sundress Publications.

Meet the Teaching Artist:

Melanie Hyo-In Han on Writing Between Languages

Who is this class for?

This online poetry workshop is for poets who live between languages — or who have lost the map back to one. Whether you're multilingual, heritage-language speakers, or simply have a complicated relationship with at least one language, this class invites you to write poems that hold multiplicity without forcing it to resolve. Open to all levels.

What to expect:

Language is never just a tool. It carries memory, belonging, rupture, and grief. In "Mother Tongue, Other Tongue," you'll use poetry to explore the complicated terrain of multilingual identity — the words that resist translation, the grammar of home, the accent that marks you as insider or outsider, and the languages your body remembers even when your mind forgets.

In this 6-week online writing workshop, you'll move from personal inventory to experimental form: writing poems that code-switch, poems built around untranslatable words, poems that mourn or reclaim a lost tongue, and poems that invent new language altogether. Through close readings of contemporary multilingual poets, generative writing prompts, and supportive peer feedback, you'll develop a portfolio of poems that hold cultural, linguistic, and emotional multiplicity.

You don't need to be fluent in multiple languages to take this creative writing course. You need only a complicated relationship with at least one.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will draft 4 to 6 original poems exploring language, identity, and cultural memory. Each week builds toward a final portfolio, with in-class generative exercises, homework drafts, and one round of peer and instructor feedback per poem. Students will receive written instructor feedback on each homework draft, focused on craft elements — image, form, line, and voice — as well as how effectively the poem achieves what it's reaching for. Peer feedback will be facilitated each week using structured prompts to keep responses specific and generative rather than evaluative.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from "Bilingual Christmas" by Pat Mora; "Language Studies: 'Ahooyawpe' / From the Air" by Casandra López; selected poems from Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa; "Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong" by Ocean Vuong; and "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan (craft essay). All readings will be provided as PDFs or links — no books to purchase.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: The Languages We Carry — Inventory poems, body-memory poems, and origin

Week 2: Words That Resist Translation — Untranslatables, silence, and white space as craft 

Week 3: Code-Switching as Craft — Moving between languages, registers, and audiences

Week 4: Erasure, Archive, and Found Language — Blackout and erasure techniques using found texts

Week 5: Visual and Fragmented Forms — Spatial arrangement, fragmentation, and typography

Week 6: Reclaiming the Tongue — Invented words, hybrid forms, portfolio share, and reflection

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A draft portfolio of 4 to 6 original poems rooted in language and cultural identity
• A personal poetic vocabulary built from the languages, words, sounds, and silences that are distinctly yours
• Craft tools for writing across or between languages, including code-switching, translingual techniques, and the strategic use of untranslatability
• Experience with experimental forms, specifically fragmented structures and the use of non-English text on the page
• Peer feedback practice and the confidence to write the poems only you can write

TESTIMONIALS:

"This has been an outstanding course, an amazing experience! Thank you for your patience and your encouragement during this course."

— Former Student

"Such a wonderful class, Melanie! Thank you for creating such a welcoming and safe environment. I was nervous but excited about starting poetry again after such a long time away, and this was the most beautiful environment I could have joined and I learned so much. Thank you, thank you!" 

— Former Student

"This course pushed me beyond the limits of my writing. It was nice to be exposed to a lot of different writing techniques (in the area of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.). We talked together about topics, which made me have a better understanding of writing creatively." — Former Student

"Professor Han's ability to give us almost full freedom when writing, and the overall environment was great, allowing for collaborative efforts among students. The material was also very relevant to current events, and Professor Han helped us stay engaged by presenting generationally relevant topics." — Former Student

"Melanie's seminars have been the best part of this module. The prompts given to write poems have inspired a lot of my work. The discussions on other poems have made me think a lot of what I am doing in my poetry." — Former Student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $445 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Melanie Hyo-In Han
• Begins Sunday, July 19, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Sundays, 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM Eastern
• Tuition is $445 USD.