Logan Phillips : Booking Menu 2026-2027

Artist Talks

Writing in Images: Hybrid Poetry & Photography

60-90 minutes.
Most relevant to those interested in poetry, visual design, visual arts and hybrid art forms. All levels.
Tech requirements: projector / large screen. Sound system adequate to group size.
Group size: 5 - 500.

How can a writer engage images? How can a visual artist leverage writing? Poet and artist Logan Phillips discusses the writing and design of Reckon (The University of Arizona Press, 2026), his hybrid memoir that includes a mix of literary forms (poetry, essay, screenplay and more) as well as design elements such as collage, visual sampling of archival material, newspapers, typography and original photography.

Written using design software (Adobe InDesign) rather than standard word processing software, Reckon is part of an artistic legacy of books that transgress genre by mixing media. Antecedents such as Wisconsin Death Trip (1973) by Michael Lesy and current examples such 13 Questions for the Next Economy (2025) by Susan Briante and Reprise by Golden (2025) are all discussed.

The Poetic Unit: Building Detailed, Minimalist Worlds

60-90 minutes.
Most relevant to those with some experience writing poetry.
Tech requirements depend on group size:
- Under 30: projector / screen or whiteboard
- Over 30: projector / screen
Group size 5 - 500.

Many painters and ceramicists describe working at the scale of the human hand. For a poet, the working unit is a breath. Most poets are familiar with line breaks and stanzas, but how can we look even more closely at how we parse language on the page?

Poet and author Logan Phillips discusses how developing a new relationship to “the poetic unit” unlocked an unexpected deluge of writing that became his latest book Reckon (The University of Arizona Press, 2026). Techniques such as caesura, parataxis and genre hybridity are defined and offered as possible tools for use by poets.

Workshops

Mixing Genre: Hybrid Writing for Memoir & Beyond

60-120 minutes
Most relevant to those interested in writing at any level or genre.
Tech requirements: whiteboard.
Group size: 5 - 40.

When engaging in writing about our past, constructing a linear narrative can obscure more than it reveals. Looking backwards we can see the chain of events that lead us to where we are today, but at the time the outcome was far from certain. So how can we render memory beyond cause-and-effect? How can we use research to both contextualize and complicate what we remember – and what we don’t?

In this workshop, poet and author Logan Phillips (Reckon, University of Arizona Press 2026) draws on lessons learned from the challenge of writing about Tombstone, AZ, where his family lived when he was born. Phillips offers strategies and exercises for inviting hybridity into memoir writing, transgressing genre to draw on the strengths of poetry, essay, screenplay – even photography and collage. Techniques for writing from personal and archival research will also be discussed.

Participants of all levels and any genre are welcome, no prior experience necessary. While the workshop focuses on writing personal history (memoir), the approaches offered may be applicable in a wide range of writing projects.