FREEPORT — Highland Community College’s Clarence Mitchell Library is pleased to share a program for National Poetry Month. Guest artist, Adam al-Sirgany, current poet laureate of Rockford, Illinois, will lead a poetry workshop, “Line by Line: Exploring Contemporary Poetry,” at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the Clarence Mitchell Library.

Adam al-Sirgany is a writer of fiction and poetry, based in Rockford. He was recently named the city’s Poet Laureate for 2026 - 2027. His debut short story collection, More Hell, was published by Whiskey Tit Books last year. Adam grew up in Stockton, IL and attended HCC before pursuing degrees in writing at Knox College, SIU-E, and the University of Arizona.

Adam serves as the Acquisitions & Developmental Editor for the indie press SFWP and also works as a freelance editor. He teaches developmental editing for the UCLA Extension Writers Program, and is a volunteer facilitator for teen poetry workshops. You can see more of what Adam is working on by visiting his website, adamalsirgany.com.

Contemporary poetry can be intimidating to new readers and writers because of the many ways modern poets use line breaks to create meaning (and often, multiple meanings). In this workshop, participants will look at how the framework for poetic “lines” has developed over time. Poems from different time periods will be shown to exhibit how the form has become freer and, in some ways, more complex over time.

In the free-writing portion of the workshop, participants will generate a brief piece of descriptive prose which they will then break down and re-write as a poem. This workshop is designed for beginners and experienced writers alike as a means to experiment, play, and learn something new.

The workshop is free and open to the public. If you have any questions about the event, contact Laura Watson at 815.599.3456 or laura.watson@highland.edu.