Cognitive science researcher Pireeni Sundalingaram brings her knowledge to bear on a two-part poetry workshop in early March at Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco.

"Shifting Focus: Changing Your Brain, Changing Your Poetic Practice" will challenge the way writers typically engage with the world and will present information and exercises to show how innovative metaphors can unleash creativity. Sundaralingam, a Sri Lankan-born, Oxford-educated scientist has long been interested in the confluence of art and science. "By learning how to work with your unique brain structures, rather than working against them, poets can break through blocks and find new sources of inspiration," she says.

Sundaralingam is also a widely published poet and writer, a PEN USA Rosenthal Fellow whose work has appeared in Ploughshares, World Literature Today, the Progressive, and The Guardian. She is currently completing an anthology of Asian-American Writers to be published by Norton. Last year, her autobiographical play, "War Harvest" received its first staged reading in the City.