Gina Keplinger hosts first Writers' Block Poetry Slam at Lincoln Correctional Center

Monday, April 1, 2019

KHN Alum (2018) Gina Keplinger, recently hosted a poetry slam inside the Lincoln Correctional Center (LCC, Nebraska) as part of the Writers' Block program. The Writers' Block program was started by Nicholas Bell, and is taught by volunteers. Volunteers acted as judges during this slam, and shared their work alongside the writers in the program. Lincoln's Writers' Block program is co-facilitated/taught by Gina Keplinger, Lier Rodriguez, Alex Ramirez, and Claire Jimenez. The Writers' Block slam was envisionsed by Gina Keplinger, and here she talks about the slam (details in Lincoln Journal Star article below):

"I've been working with administrators at the Lincoln Correctional Center (LCC) to host a poetry slam inside their facility since December. My vision for the event was one of inclusion, collaboration, and joy. Folks from UNL's English Department shared stage space with incarcerated writers from LCC who shared stage space with slam poets from the greater Omaha area. Guests drove miles to attend, to cheer, to witness, celebrate, and applaud. You should read the brilliant story from JoAnne Young to know how the night ended. You should know that as soon as the slam concluded, an LCC administrator pulled me aside to ask when the next slam would be. Many thanks to my friends Writers' Block in Lincoln with me. Many thanks to Nicholas Bell for trusting me to run this programming in Lincoln, to put on this event. Many thanks to the Nebraska Writers Collective for standing behind me. Many thanks to the humans who continue to champion me in this work, in this life. It's an absolute privilege to work with these men each month. These poems have seen difficult, exquisite revisions. Their voices remain precisely that -- theirs. These writers have met, then exceeded, their own expectations. Their poems have stretched and grown. This is the beginning. And it's a beautiful one." (Gina Keplinger via Nebraska Writers Collective FB)

Lincoln Journal Star article about Writers' Block and the LCC Poetry Slam

Gina Keplinger's bio

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Gina Keplinger hosts first Writers' Block Poetry Slam at Lincoln Correctional Center

Gina Keplinger hosts first Writers' Block Poetry Slam at Lincoln Correctional Center

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