Valentine's Little Love Books

Shakespeare compared his love to "a summer's day" in his eighteenth sonnet. Elizabeth Barret Browning counted the many ways she loved her husband in the poem "How Do I Love Thee?" The love poem is one of the most well-known and often-read types of poetry, and to give someone a gift of poems is one of the most unique presents in the world. 

In your first session you will write poems, discuss the best order to place our poems within the manuscript, format them in Microsoft Word to be printed, choose and layout your cover designs, and prepare to assemble the pages. 

In your second session, we will put together our chapbooks, learn how to perforate the pages, hand-bind them using a saddle stitch, and read our poems aloud to one another. 

Supply list:

• Choice of paper style for pages (generally 8.5x11 works best, but is not a requirement of the paper)
• Choice of more durable paper for cover (should be the same size or bigger than paper chosen for pages)
• A printer, or access to a printing service for printing the pages of poetry
• An awl (or hole punch)
• Waxed thread and needle (or any kind of ribbon, rope, yarn, cord, or string to use to make the binding)
• Scissors

Ages 13+