Creative writing and performance workshops
Prior to the coronavirus lockdown, I offered hour-long to whole day group and individual practical workshops that demonstrated how everyday sources like magazines, music and the immediate environment might be tapped for inspiration alongside prescribed academic literature, school exam texts or community stories. I have so far worked with singers, spoken word artists, students and aspiring writers and performers. You can read and save a copy of my workshop outlines from the bottom of this page.
How much do you charge per workshop? how can I find out more about your offering?
The fee for a full day of workshops (4 sessions with scope for staff CPD and Q+A sessions, assemblies and book signings) is based on industry standards; please get in touch to discuss this further.
You can also download my poetry idea generation, revision and performance in schools workshop promotional pack as a pdf.
When do you run workshops?
I am no longer taking face to face bookings for workshops but would be happy to talk with you about running an online event.
Where do you run your writing workshops?
I have run writing workshops up and down the UK and have more recently consulted with writers over video calls. Admittedly, during the pandemic, I have spent more time consulting with start-ups and ecommerce businesses on their brand voices than I have leading creative writing classes.
Who would benefit from these sessions?
This series of workshops was written to benefit Year 9 pupils and older in an academic setting, as well as people aged 16 and older in community or festival environments. The hope was to inspire in your pupils, students or writers' group the idea that anyone anywhere is capable of writing something fantastic and that the key to being a great writer is - often - first to start writing. I also aimed to discuss in these sessions my own creative practice.
What can my school, university or community groups expect from these writing sessions?
My specality is poetry and short-form prose. A typical creative writing session moves from an initial discussion of the medium we're looking at, why we study it and why we might write in this way towards rapid idea generation exercises and performance practices. We then immediately apply the techniques we've talked through to various pieces of literature, for instance to the contemporary poetry studied from Year 9 through to Upper Sixth for school-based writing sessions.
What models of writing and performance workshops do you offer?
My experience of performing stems typically from having first worked on the text. This series of workshops, then, starts with prose and poetry writing exercises before moving towards the presentation of the ideas we've generated - no matter whether on the stage or on the page. My current models are as below:
1. BLOCK poetry: how I completed my first poetry collection by deleting nearly half of it
2. Tear it up and start again: an introduction to the cut-up technique and how existing texts can be turned into something new
3. Anybody or anything anywhere is capable of saying something fantastic: building confidence in writing and performing
4. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it: a performance poetry workshop
5. Rhyme and slang: poetry for people who think they hate poetry.