The Heart Breaks to Get Bigger

Prague-based poet Lucien Zell will guide participants in this writing workshop on a personal tour of the literary touchstones of grief and healing. Propelled to Europe by the hurricane gust of his brother’s death, Zell found solace and strength in the power of poetry to acknowledge loss and embrace transformation. Now 30 years an expatriate, Zell returns to share the vivid insights his road has given him.

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Seattle, Zell now lives in Prague. His writing has appeared in the New Orleans Review, Tikkun, Poetry Salzburg Review, and will appear in three upcoming anthologies. His first American book of poetry, Tiny Kites, was published in 2019. A professional singer-songwriter, Zell’s folk/rock album Fall into Flight is available on iTunes and Spotify. Carnival of Shades, a classical piece for which he composed the libretto, premiered last November at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.