Recent Writings
Chris Ransick in Memoriam: An Interview with Joy Roulier Sawyer
Chris Ransick was a beloved Lighthouse Writers instructor and the former Denver Poet Laureate who passed away in 2019. His dedication to the craft of poetry--and life--is a timeless inspiration.
Read the interview here.
Love's Bitten Tongue: On Vassar Miller
Vassar Miller was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in the 60s and was twice Texas Poet Laureate--yet her rich and complex work is largely unknown outside of literary circles. Her life is every bit as compelling as her art.
Songs Aboard the Women's Freedom Train: Writing to Be Free
"I write myself into better dreams," says Terry Tempest Williams. And so do the women of this writing workshop I facilitate, who are transitioning out of incarceration.
Songs Aboard the Freedom Train
There's Gold in That Story
"What someone who teaches a workshop mainly does," says the poet Galway Kinnell, "is recognize the passages that are alive and true and show those to the author."
Library of Dreams: Bibliotherapy and the Beautiful Barrio
Esthesis: An E-Mag of Arts & Ideas
Bibliotherapy is the use of literature--poetry, fiction, film, memoir, plays,
essays--to promote mental health and cultural understanding.
Library of Dreams
Joy teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, the largest literary center in the Rocky Mountain West. Visit their website here.
Joy also teaches in Lighthouse's community outreach programs: Hard Times, for those experiencing homelessness & poverty, and Writing to Be Free, for women transitioning out of incarceration.
Joy is considered a national expert in the Hynes & Hynes-Berry biblio/poetry model, and edited & revised one of the standard academic textbooks in the field. Check it out in the "Books" section on this website.