FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd
9
- 10am: Registration
10
- 11am: Guest Speaker: GRAHAM HARTILL
"Who Says"
Graham Hartill will set our work in the widest context
of humanity's engagement
with the expressive word. He will consider the origins
of poetry and stories
in the species and the individual, and look at various traditions of using
the written and spoken word to bring about change, from shamanism, theatre and poetics.
in the species and the individual, and look at various traditions of using
the written and spoken word to bring about change, from shamanism, theatre and poetics.
11 - 11.30am: Break
11.30 - 1pm: Workshop of your
choice from A, B or C
Workshop A
"Through the Self"
with Fiona Owen
This life-writing workshop will explore, through a variety of exercises, what we might mean by 'the self'', where each particular life opens as a path. We will explore the 'storying' life where autobiography can move us 'from certainty of knowledge into the mystery of being' (Peter Abbs).
with Fiona Owen
This life-writing workshop will explore, through a variety of exercises, what we might mean by 'the self'', where each particular life opens as a path. We will explore the 'storying' life where autobiography can move us 'from certainty of knowledge into the mystery of being' (Peter Abbs).
Workshop B
"Tell It Slant - Dramatic Monologue as
Emotional Ventriloquism"
with Aileen La Tourette
This will be a workshop using dramatic monologue - putting things into other, constructed ‘mouths’ – chosen and constructed by us - as a strategy for going to places that might otherwise be impossible to enter, or enter with any degree of fluidity, dexterity or ability to express the extreme emotions that lie there. We will look at a few dramatic monologues and also construct our own. We all have lots of unlived lives or separate selves, perhaps, and in a dramatic monologue we get to try some on – really, the voice chooses you.
with Aileen La Tourette
This will be a workshop using dramatic monologue - putting things into other, constructed ‘mouths’ – chosen and constructed by us - as a strategy for going to places that might otherwise be impossible to enter, or enter with any degree of fluidity, dexterity or ability to express the extreme emotions that lie there. We will look at a few dramatic monologues and also construct our own. We all have lots of unlived lives or separate selves, perhaps, and in a dramatic monologue we get to try some on – really, the voice chooses you.
Workshop C
"Breathing
Between Imaginations"
with Jill Teague
"Painting is poetry that is seen…and poetry is painting that is felt”.
with Jill Teague
"Painting is poetry that is seen…and poetry is painting that is felt”.
Leonardo de Vinci
"Beholding" is a term used to describe the intense and focused attention we can bring when looking at works of art. In this workshop, we will use a selection of art, to practise beholding, as well as read examples of ekphrastic poetry, to explore the ways in which the engagement of two imaginations - that of the artist, and the beholders' imaginative responses to their work, produces a creative circular breath that enlivens both.
"Beholding" is a term used to describe the intense and focused attention we can bring when looking at works of art. In this workshop, we will use a selection of art, to practise beholding, as well as read examples of ekphrastic poetry, to explore the ways in which the engagement of two imaginations - that of the artist, and the beholders' imaginative responses to their work, produces a creative circular breath that enlivens both.
1 - 2pm: Lunch
2
- 4pm: Workshop of your choice from
D, E or F
Workshop D
"From Journal to
Journey – the You that You never Met"
with Suzanne Power
with Suzanne Power
A
journal is a journey into your greatness, and your greatness is more than you
can ever imagine. Journal writing is also a progressive journey, encouraging
the steps to be taken towards a fully imagined life, towards the You,
you never met but have always known. The journal entry offers up
indications of where the roots of being draw sustenance - a humble
encounter offering all possibilities because it
displays the deep truth. In this workshop we will work with the first
possibilities of that greater reality, using techniques we are familiar
with, but also working with the images arising. Come with a pen, an
open mind, a soft approach, and a good companion - your chosen
journal.
Workshop E
"The Gift of a
Word"
with Anne-Marie Smith
with Anne-Marie Smith
“Words and eggs must be handled with care.”
Anne Sexton
How
do we respond to words? Where can one word take you? Which words are like gifts
in your life? Through a series of writing exercises - via poetry and images -
we will explore our emotional and physical responses to words that may make us
go 'oh' or 'grrr' or 'aaaah'! Using short exercises adapted from my ‘writing
for wellbeing’ practice, this workshop aims to offer a safe space to spend some
meaningful time with words – through reading, writing, reflecting and walking:
yes, we will have a little ‘walk with a word’! (Bring a coat if you fancy
taking your word outside).
Workshop F
Workshop F
"Mythic Journeys - Poetry and Storytelling
with Jessica Clapham
with Jessica Clapham
” Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul"
Emily Dickinson
In this workshop we will take inspiration from ancient Celtic wisdom and the myth of Pandora. Using a selection of poetry, prose and writing activities, we will explore the theme of identity.
In this workshop we will take inspiration from ancient Celtic wisdom and the myth of Pandora. Using a selection of poetry, prose and writing activities, we will explore the theme of identity.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4th
9 - 10am: Registration
10
- 11am: Guest Speaker: JAY
GRIFFITHS
Award winning author Jay Griffiths will explore how
important poetry is, in madness, and look at the way metaphor comprehends and
consoles the psyche. Her book "Wild" was winner of the inaugural
Orion Book Award and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and for the World
Book Day award. Her latest book is "Tristimania: A Diary of Manic
Depression".
11 - 11.30am: Break
11.30
- 1pm: Workshop of your choice from
A, B or C
Workshop A
“The Spaces
Between”
with Clare Scott
with Clare Scott
‘Listen:
In the silence between
there is music;
In the spaces between
there is story.’
Sally Atkins
Spaces
between help us to find definition.Space provides the separation that
enables us to find ourselves individually. Spaces between words give words
their meaning. The space between may be the liminal spaces, the undetermined,
the unmapped, and the edgelands. It is their nothingness that gives
freedom to be and defines the known, the recognised, the seen, between one
destination and the next. The space may be the gold that fills the cracks in
broken Japanese ceramic wares. This workshop will use verbal and visual
media to explore the spaces between and help us to create personal definitions
of who and what we are.
Workshop B
"From Journal to
Journey – the You that You never Met"
with Suzanne Power
with Suzanne Power
A
journal is a journey into your greatness, and your greatness is more than you
can ever imagine. Journal writing is also a progressive journey, encouraging
the steps to be taken towards a fully imagined life, towards the You,
you never met but have always known. The journal entry offers up
indications of where the roots of being draw sustenance - a humble
encounter offering all possibilities because it
displays the deep truth. In this workshop we will work with the first
possibilities of that greater reality, using techniques we are familiar
with, but also working with the images arising. Come with a pen, an
open mind, a soft approach, and a good companion - your chosen
journal.
Workshop C
"Tell It Slant - Dramatic Monologue as Emotional Ventriloquism"
with Aileen La Tourette
This will be a workshop using dramatic monologue - putting things into other, constructed ‘mouths’ – chosen and constructed by us - as a strategy for going to places that might otherwise be impossible to enter, or enter with any degree of fluidity, dexterity or ability to express the extreme emotions that lie there. We will look at a few dramatic monologues and also construct our own. We all have lots of unlived lives or separate selves, perhaps, and in a dramatic monologue we get to try some on – really, the voice chooses you.
Workshop C
"Tell It Slant - Dramatic Monologue as Emotional Ventriloquism"
with Aileen La Tourette
This will be a workshop using dramatic monologue - putting things into other, constructed ‘mouths’ – chosen and constructed by us - as a strategy for going to places that might otherwise be impossible to enter, or enter with any degree of fluidity, dexterity or ability to express the extreme emotions that lie there. We will look at a few dramatic monologues and also construct our own. We all have lots of unlived lives or separate selves, perhaps, and in a dramatic monologue we get to try some on – really, the voice chooses you.
1 - 2pm: Lunch
2
- 4pm: Workshop of your choice from
D, E or F
Workshop D
"Breathing Between Imaginations"
with Jill Teague
"Breathing Between Imaginations"
with Jill Teague
"Painting is poetry that is seen…and poetry is painting that is felt”.
Leonardo de Vinci
"Beholding" is a term used to describe the intense and focused attention we can bring when looking at works of art. In this workshop, we will use a selection of art, to practise beholding, as well as read examples of ekphrastic poetry, to explore the ways in which the engagement of two imaginations - that of the artist, and the beholders' imaginative responses to their work, produces a creative circular breath that enlivens both.
Workshop E
"Through the Self"
with Fiona Owen
"Through the Self"
with Fiona Owen
This life-writing workshop will explore, through a
variety of exercises, what we might mean by 'the self', where each particular
life opens as a path. We will explore the 'storying' life where
autobiography can move us 'from certainty of knowledge into the mystery of
being' (Peter Abbs).
Workshop F
"Following the Thread - Writing with Welsh Blankets"
with Sarah Edwards
"Wanted: a needle
swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket".
Charles Simic
With
Welsh blankets on display, this workshop will use these traditional Welsh
blankets alongside poems and writing activities to explore and reflect upon our
unique word weaving. No writing experience is needed, just curiosity with a
desire to write and see where your words may take you, following your own
thread.
8
- 9:30pm: Open Mic and music
from Fiona and Gorwel Owen
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5th
9 - 10am: Registration
10 - 11am: Guest Speaker: JOHN
KILLICK
"Vernacular Eloquence - The Poetry of Natural Speech"
John Killick will consider how when large parts of the
poetry world are taken over by academic standards, we are in danger of losing
the simple lyric impulse and the vocabulary and speech patterns of ordinary
people. He will demonstrate how his residency work with older people,
particularly those with dementia, is blowing wide open pretensions
and preconceptions, and ushering in a new era of what Peter Elbow
calls "Vernacular Eloquence".
11 - 11.30am: Break
11.30 - 1pm: Workshop of your choice from
A, B or C
Workshop A
"The Gift of a Word”
with Anne-Marie Smith
"The Gift of a Word”
with Anne-Marie Smith
“Words and eggs must be handled with care.”
Anne Sexton
How
do we respond to words? Where can one word take you? Which words are like gifts
in your life? Through a series of writing exercises - via poetry and images -
we will explore our emotional and physical responses to words that may make us
go 'oh' or 'grrr' or 'aaaah'! Using short exercises adapted from my ‘writing
for wellbeing’ practice, this workshop aims to offer a safe space to spend some
meaningful time with words – through reading, writing, reflecting and walking:
yes, we will have a little ‘walk with a word’! (Bring a coat if you fancy
taking your word outside).
Workshop B
"Mythic Journeys - Poetry and Storytelling
with Jessica Clapham
” Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul"
"Mythic Journeys - Poetry and Storytelling
with Jessica Clapham
” Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul"
Emily Dickinson
In this workshop we will take inspiration from ancient Celtic wisdom and the myth of Pandora. Using a selection of poetry, prose and writing activities, we will explore the theme of identity.
In this workshop we will take inspiration from ancient Celtic wisdom and the myth of Pandora. Using a selection of poetry, prose and writing activities, we will explore the theme of identity.
Workshop C
"Following the Thread - Writing with Welsh Blankets"
with Sarah Edwards
"Following the Thread - Writing with Welsh Blankets"
with Sarah Edwards
"Wanted: a needle
swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket".
Charles Simic
With Welsh blankets on display, this workshop will use these traditional Welsh blankets alongside poems and writing activities to explore and reflect upon our unique word weaving. No writing experience is needed, just curiosity with a desire to write and see where your words may take you, following your own thread.
With Welsh blankets on display, this workshop will use these traditional Welsh blankets alongside poems and writing activities to explore and reflect upon our unique word weaving. No writing experience is needed, just curiosity with a desire to write and see where your words may take you, following your own thread.
1
- 2pm: Lunch
2
- 4pm: Workshop of your choice from
D, E or F
Workshop D
"Everything Begins in the Dark - Writing Winter's Wisdom"
with Hazel Mutch
"Everything Begins in the Dark - Writing Winter's Wisdom"
with Hazel Mutch
"Everything is born
from an opposite and miraculous otherness. Silence and winter has led me to
that otherness".
David Whyte
As winter approaches, what is no longer needed falls away revealing open spaces, and what is coming next lies hidden, reminding us that everything begins in the dark. As nature pauses and rests, this workshop is an opportunity to do the same. It is an invitation to reflect on the necessity of opposites and to allow our own hidden voices within to provide new perspectives through writing practices.
As winter approaches, what is no longer needed falls away revealing open spaces, and what is coming next lies hidden, reminding us that everything begins in the dark. As nature pauses and rests, this workshop is an opportunity to do the same. It is an invitation to reflect on the necessity of opposites and to allow our own hidden voices within to provide new perspectives through writing practices.
Workshop E
“The Spaces Between”
with Clare Scott
“The Spaces Between”
with Clare Scott
‘Listen:
In the silence between
there is music;
In the spaces between
there is story.’
Sally Atkins
Spaces between help us to find definition.Space provides the separation that enables us to find ourselves individually. Spaces between words give words their meaning. The space between may be the liminal spaces, the undetermined, the unmapped, and the edgelands. It is their nothingness that gives freedom to be and defines the known, the recognised, the seen, between one destination and the next. The space may be the gold that fills the cracks in broken Japanese ceramic wares. This workshop will use verbal and visual media to explore the spaces between and help us to create personal definitions of who and what we are.
Spaces between help us to find definition.Space provides the separation that enables us to find ourselves individually. Spaces between words give words their meaning. The space between may be the liminal spaces, the undetermined, the unmapped, and the edgelands. It is their nothingness that gives freedom to be and defines the known, the recognised, the seen, between one destination and the next. The space may be the gold that fills the cracks in broken Japanese ceramic wares. This workshop will use verbal and visual media to explore the spaces between and help us to create personal definitions of who and what we are.
Workshop F
"Breathing Between Imaginations"
with Jill Teague
with Jill Teague
"Painting is poetry that is seen…and poetry is painting that is felt”.
Leonardo de Vinci
"Beholding" is a term used to describe the intense and focused attention we can bring when looking at works of art. In this workshop, we will use a selection of art, to practise beholding, as well as read examples of ekphrastic poetry, to explore the ways in which the engagement of two imaginations - that of the artist, and the beholders' imaginative responses to their work, produces a creative circular breath that enlivens both.