Nov 14 :: Writing the Map :: 5-8pm

Writing the Map
$25 in advance | $30 at the door

Project Butterfly invites you to join Chiwan Choi and Mike the Poet for a much anticipated writing workshop with two LA contemporary literary heroes.

It is easy to forget in its vastness, but our landscape is made up of the smallest details. When we were young, we watched an old film, Powers of Ten where the camera zooms out by the power of ten each time until we are in outer space and our world is nothing but a barely visible speck.

In Writing the Map, we will tackle the written form, both structured and free, poetry and prose, and we will make them heard, through loud chants and intense whispers, to collect the stories and details of our lives until they build our individual landscapes, our personal topographies , so we understand and share the world we have lived through our words and our voices.

We will reverse that camera that has zoomed out for so long and get back into ourselves, into our personal details and stories that have been buried for too long.

This workshop will be filled with many writing exercises and lessons.

Come prepared to write, read aloud and create.


Chiwan Choi is a writer, editor, teacher, and publisher. He has been a member of the Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective since 1989. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including ONTHEBUS, Esquire , and circa. Chiwan’s first major collection of poetry, The Flood, was published by Tía Chucha Press in April, 2010.

He is a regular in the Los Angeles literary circuit, often invited as a featured poet at readings at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood and the legendary Beyond Baroque in Venice. He also leads two writing workshops, one in downtown and one in Santa Monica.

After a two-year stint in New York, where he received an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the Tisch School at NYU, Chiwan returned to Los Angeles where he and his wife, Judeth Oden, launched a new publishing company to feature Los Angeles writers, Writ Large Press , in March of 2008.

Mike Sonksen, also known as Mike the Poet, has long been an integral force in the Los Angeles poetry scene. He has been widely acclaimed for his live performances, contributions to international publications and legendary city tours. Poet, journalist, historian, tour guide, and teacher, he is regularly published in the LA Citybeat, OC Weekly, New Angeles, LA Weekly, and many others. This 3rd generation L.A. native graduated from UCLA in 1997. His book, I Am Alive in Los Angeles, has been added to the curriculum of several universities and has received rave reviews.


Tuition ::
$25 in Advance | $30 at the Door

Registration ::



Date & Time ::
Sunday :: 14 Nov 2010
5:00 – 8:00pm

What to Bring ::
Pen & Paper

Location ::
Project Butterfly Loft
821 Traction Ave. – Unit #108
Los Angeles, CA 90013