‘Stars’ of Contemporary Poetry: A Reading, Writing and Publishing Workshop

Winchester Discovery Centre – 29th September

When the good people at Winchester Discovery Centre asked me to run a course to go with National Poetry Day’s theme of ‘Stars’, of course I said yes straight away. But then I must admit I scratched my head for a while as to what I could actually do with that theme. I couldn’t at first think of how to create an original, exciting workshop based on it.  The problem was that so many of the ideas conjured up by ‘Stars’ are already familiar and commonplace, so I didn’t feel inspired by them myself; and if I’m not inspired by a workshop, I have no reason to expect my students to be!

Then a light came on: I could run a day looking at ‘Stars’, not of film or TV or even the night sky, but of the UK poetry scene. Now that I could get excited about:  using some of the best contemporary poetry and poets as a springboard for writing; and also bringing in something about poetry publishing in the UK. It’s a workshop I’ve been wanting to run for a while, because I’m passionate about bring good poetry to wider audiences, and vice versa; and also about helping writers get their work out into the world. So I’m looking forward to it greatly, and I hope you’ll join me.

If you come along, I will be doing my darndest to make these things happen for you:

  1. ‘Good Reading Makes Good Writing’: you’ll see how you can use the work of excellent poets to inspire and improve your own poetryWe’ll be looking at techniques as well as subject matter, voice, language, and anything else that crops up!
  2. Knowing the Scene: you will learn as much as I can pack in about kinds of poetry that are being published in the UK today. I’m hoping you’ll find new poets whose work you’ll want to explore more, and that you’ll also see how your own poetry fits in.
  3. Getting Published: because I’ll also be having a look at poetry publishing  in the UK, you’ll learn about some of the things you can do to get your poems published
The day runs from 10am to 4pm; there is a cafe at the DC but you’re welcome to bring your own lunch. Tickets are £25 (concessions are available) and can be booked through the Discovery Centre  online here or by calling 01962 873603.

If you’d like any more information, please use the Contact link above to email me. I hope to see you there.

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