Conference Programme

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.

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).
  
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.

Workshop C
 "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. 

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
 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
 “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
 "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.




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
 ‘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
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.


1 - 2pm: Lunch

2 - 4pm: Workshop of your choice from D, E or F 

Workshop D 
"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
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
 “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"
  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.

Workshop C 
"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.

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 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.

Workshop E 
 “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.

Workshop F

"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.