Summer in the City - Poetry Workshops
The sessions are designed for any level of experience, from beginners who have never written a poem before to practised writers. Through exploring urban-based poetry and writing your own poems with helpful prompts, you will prepare your favourite pieces and have a chance to showcase your work in an exhibition and anthology.
Within an academic context, poetry can seem quite daunting with a lot of rules to follow. This series of workshops will demonstrate how poetry can be found everywhere, it is connected to our daily thoughts and feelings, and it can help you to familiarise yourself with the city. If you’ve never done any creative writing before, this series will be a welcoming and supportive environment to write your first poem, and if you are an experienced writer this is a chance to experiment with different styles. These workshops will suit anyone who wants to chat about city life, meet new people, and practice writing and crafting.
Following a discussion-based and free-writing introduction session, we will work through three writing themes. Firstly, a ‘Thinking through the city’ session will explore connections between the city and our minds/mental health/ introspection. The second workshop will be ‘Cities and Spaces’, which will focus on the spaces and objects around the city and how they help or hinder our awareness of what’s around us. Then there will be a ‘Paper Cities’ session, where we will experiment with paper and writing forms (e.g. zines, city guides, cityscapes). We will then spend some time developing the poems we like best and making a city-themed exhibition and short anthology of our work.
In A Nutshell...
- Develop...skills in writing, sharing work, and reading poetry.
- Co-produce...a small exhibition and poetry anthology as an output.
- Think...about the stages between discussion, writing, creating, and exhibiting in a community space.
- Gain experience...in using experimental and creative writing forms, working on a writing project, and editing your work for publication/showcasing.
- Earn up to 150 Rise points ... which can be recognised within your degree.
Schedule
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13:00 to 15:00 on 30/05/23 - Manchester Poetry Library
Workshop 1 -
13:00 to 15:00 on 06/06/23 - Manchester Poetry Library
Workshop 2 -
13:00 to 15:00 on 13/06/23 - Online
Workshop 3 -
13:00 to 15:00 on 20/06/23 - Online
Workshop 4 -
13:00 to 15:00 on 26/06/23 - Manchester Poetry Library
Workshop 5 -
01/06/23 to 30/06/23
Flexible Engagement Work around the workshops to develop your own ideas for the exhibition.