Workshops in 2022
We are starting our 2022 programme with an in-person workshop led by well-known poet Greta Stoddart. It will be held on Saturday 9th April, at the Exeter Community Centre. Full details to follow shortly.
Please note: Unless otherwise stated, face-to-face workshops run from 10.00am-4.00pm.
Online workshops run from 2.00pm-5.00pm.
The fee for in-person workshops is from £20-£50, depending on what you can afford.
The fee for online workshops is £15, concessions £10.
Bookings open about a month before each workshop. Please email Simon Millward to reserve a place. Payment should be made asap to confirm your booking. For payment details contact Tom Woodman.
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We are starting our 2022 programme with an in-person workshop led by well-known poet Greta Stoddart. It will be held on Saturday 9th April, at the Exeter Community Centre. Full details to follow shortly.
Please note: Unless otherwise stated, face-to-face workshops run from 10.00am-4.00pm.
Online workshops run from 2.00pm-5.00pm.
The fee for in-person workshops is from £20-£50, depending on what you can afford.
The fee for online workshops is £15, concessions £10.
Bookings open about a month before each workshop. Please email Simon Millward to reserve a place. Payment should be made asap to confirm your booking. For payment details contact Tom Woodman.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Exploring Intimacy and Distance in Poetry with Suzanne Conway
Saturday 6th August, 10.30 am – 4.30 pm (please note later times)
Broadhempston Village Hall, TQ9 6BJ
A workshop using Edward Thomas’s poems and some contemporary poets to explore intimacy and distance in poetry, playing with the narrative viewpoint and the effects of attempting to dissolve the ‘I'.
If you’re interested in exploring the techniques poets use to lure the reader in or to distance them, and using these in your own poetry, then this course is for you. Some poets are very accomplished at widening and narrowing the narrative lens, playing with the instability of the ‘I' and even dissolving it but does this heighten or diminish the reader’s experience? Of course, to an extent it is subjective but if you would like to delve deeper into what makes a poem most effective and where the line is between intimacy and oversharing, and evasion and distance, then come along. We will look at poems by Tara Bergin, Edward Thomas, Matthew Dickman, Jennifer Copley, Denise Riley, Rosie Jackson, Jonathan Davidson, Iain Crichton Smith and a few more.
Suzanne Conway is a teacher, poet and essayist. Her poems are published in Acumen, The Poetry Review, The Dark Horse, The North, The Rialto, The Moth, Ambit, Newspaper Taxis: Poetry after the Beatles (Seren), The Result Is What You See Today: Poems about Running (Smith|Doorstop), and elsewhere. She is working towards a Ph.D in Creative Writing at The University of Exeter. She is writing a collection of poetry alongside the critical commentary: ‘Tantalising Vagueness’ – Intimacy and Distance in the Poetry of Edward Thomas. She has taught creative writing for sixteen years at GCSE, A Level and university level. See www.suzanneconway.co.uk for more details.
Recognition and discovery with Lawrence Sail
Sat 10th September, 10am until 4pm
St Andrew's Church Hall, Ashburton, TQ13 7DT
The writing of any poem is, in greater or lesser measure, a journey of discovery - but we learn also to recognise the territory of our own approach and ability. Considering the balance between these two elements can be a fruitful argument, to the benefit of the work in hand. The workshop begins by focusing on an Edward Thomas poem, then invites participants to consider their own work from these perspectives.
The Free Verse Line with Tamar Yoseloff
Sunday 16th October, 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Online via Zoom.
We will look at strategies for creating pause and drama through line breaks. Poets include Vicki Feaver, Louise Glück and Denise Levertov.
A workshop with Julie-ann Rowell
Sunday 13th November, 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Online via Zoom.
In this workshop we will be looking at the two essential forms of cohesion or ordering in poetry: the lyric and the narrative. They aspire to unity but are quite different in how they achieve this. We’ll examine both types, and how we can write a pure lyric poem, and a narrative poem without being too prosaic. In general, poems combine both aspects, and we’ll look at this too. How do your own poems fit within this spectrum and what direction would you like to take them in? We’ll look at poets such as Denise Riley and Robert Hayden among others. A writing exercise will be part of the session.
I have been teaching poetry classes in Bristol for over fifteen years, I’ve also given a Moor Poets workshop before. I have an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Exposure, my fourth collection, was published in 2019, and I am currently at work on my fifth. The poem ‘Fata Morgana’ from Exposure was Highly Commended in the Forward Prize 2020/21. I was also Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize 2020. My first pamphlet Convergence (Brodie Press) won a Poetry Book Society Award.
