Melanie has a beautiful, unique, prophetic and convicting voice — and it needs to be heard. It needs to be heard by people whom it will make uncomfortable, and it needs to be heard by people who have walked some of the same paths as her . . . especially the painful ones . . . so they can know they aren’t alone.
–Erin Washington, MLS, Co-Founder, Embodied Labs
I am available for speaking requests, and I also offer my own prayer and poetry workshops, book clubs, and retreats. To request me for a speaking event, please click here.
A seasoned preacher, teacher and published poet, I have a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the Naslund-Mann School of Writing at Spalding University. I also have a Master of Divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary, as well as a certificate for “Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups and Retreats” from the Shalem Institute. I am a poetry contest winner, and I served as the final Poetry Editor at Geez Magazine.
Some of My Favorite Speaking Topics:
- Poetry, Justice, and Scripture
- Poetry as Social Justice Practice
- Haiku and Spirituality
- Poetry Feedback Group as Spiritual Practice
- Ecopoetry of Love and Loss: the Ghazal
- Poetry as Deep Source of Knowledge
- How to Start Your Own Poetry Feedback Group
- Collaborative Poetry, & Building Community Thorough Poetry
- Ways to Weave Poetry Into Your Church
- Lenten poetry & prayer workshop series
- Poetry of Place: Reading and Writing Poems about Our Everyday Spaces
- Social Justice Practices for the Highly Sensitive Person
- Best Practices for Reading Poetry Aloud
- Poetic Form as Freedom: When Constraints Spur New Paths
- Poetry Craft Talks (Word Choice, Form, Navigating the Line, Sound Play, Imagery, and/or Punctuation)
- Poetry of Witness: Relationship and Risk
- The Trinity and Poetry: Three Key Relationships
- Poetry as Prayer
- Poetry 101: Compression, Concrete Imagery, and Containers
- Annual Examen: naming God’s presence in the past year
- Seeking and naming sources of creative inspiration
- Finding creativity through our everyday work materials
- The creative journey: a personal labyrinth
- Our home a monastery: monastic practices we can weave into everyday life
- Suffering, justice, and beauty
- Dangerous words: censorship and the Bible
- Suffering, evil, and how do we respond?
- Contemplative prayer practices that have stood the test of time
Melanie led a chapel service on poetry, justice, and contemplation, which was a first for many of our young adult interns. Melanie’s focus on approaching poetry as a relationship opened our young adults to a new way of interacting with Scripture. I am so thankful for Melanie sharing her gifts and talents with Project Transformation DC..
–Rachel Luna, Executive Director, Project Transformation DC.
For preparing a talk, I follow the model of my friend Cary Umhau, who says:
“I never use the same talk entirely again. Every audience is different, and I want to hear your goals for your group. And also, as a person who’s always in process, I’m not the same speaker (or woman) I was the last time I gave a talk…My heart’s just not in it the same way as when I pray for fresh inspiration. So you can always know your talk will be yours uniquely.”
Partial List of Previous Speaking Venues:
- Sojourners, Washington, DC
- Redbud Writers Guild, online
- The Center for Spirituality in Nature, online
- Still Place, Mt. Rainier, MD
- McBride Writers Festival, Oklahoma City, OK
- Greater Brookland Intergenerational Village, Washington, DC
- Takoma Park Arts Series, Takoma Park, MD
- Bluebird Sky Yoga, Washington, DC
- Project Transformation, online webinar
- Van Buren United Methodist Church, Washington, DC
- Fairlington Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, VA
- University Christian Church, Hyattsville, MD
- Shanghai Community Fellowship, Shanghai, China
- St. Brendan’s in the City, Washington, DC
- Western Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC
- Catholic Volunteer Network, online webinar
- Vita Poetica, Washington DC and online webinar
- Grace United Methodist Church, Atlanta, GA
- Hangzhou International Christian Fellowship, Hangzhou, China
Retreats
I have led many retreats for a variety of ages and backgrounds. Most of the topics above can be turned into a retreat format (day, overnight, or weekend). I also love to lead silent retreats.
Please contact me to discuss potential speaking and/or retreat opportunities, as well as rates. I’d love to hear from you.