Warrior Writers

In Burlington, Vermont, on April 21 2007, Lovella Calica from Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) conducted a writing workshop at the Green Door Studio designed to help veterans deal with their experience of war through personal writing. Later that evening, several participants shared their words with each other at the opening of the "Re-making Sense" exhibit. A handmade book, "Warrior Writers: Move, Shoot and Communicate", created in collaboration with the People's Republic of Paper (PRP), was also released. "Re-making Sense" is the second anthology in the Warrior Writer series; organisers describe it as "testimony that art and community are powerful and transforming."

One participant's reflections on the workshop illuminate the communication strategy: "We gathered, we wrote, we shared, we grew. IVAW members from as far as Missouri and Chicago made their way to Burlington, Vermont for a powerful weekend. We set up an exhibit of IVAW member art and photographs of members....On Saturday, we participated in a writing workshop where we read works by other veterans and wrote about what it was like to come home, photographs from Iraq, etc. We opened up the gallery to the public and shared our writing with folks who attended the event..."

Conflict.