Saturday, August 3
4-7pm
Abril Book in Glendale, California
On the first Saturday of every month, Arminé Iknadossian runs a dynamic and for-all-levels generative writing workshop in the beautiful art gallery of Abril Books. This month, we will read and write poems about summer, especially poems with dogs in them. Yes, dogs. You would be surprised how many poems include dogs. Poets love dogs.
Did you know…the term “dog days” has an interesting origin. In ancient times, when the night sky was unobscured by artificial lights and smog different groups of people in different parts of the world drew images in the sky by “connecting the dots” of stars.
The brightest of the stars in Canis Major (the big dog) is Sirius, which also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky. In fact, it is so bright that the ancient Romans thought that the earth received heat from it. Look for it in the southern sky (viewed from northern latitudes) during January.
In the summer, however, Sirius, the “dog star,” rises and sets with the sun. During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, “dog days” after the dog star.
RSVP here or email Arminé at armiknado@gmail.com. $30.
armineiknadossian.com 