The Journey of the Poem with John Glenday, Sunday 21/6/26

The writing of a poem inevitably involves a journey. Though the poet might begin with some form of creative stimulus, the drafting requires skill, experience, hard work and the awareness of a destination. 

Balance is all. When the poet writes purely with intention, or solely out of inspiration or instinct, the results are often out of kilter and unsatisfactory. So what practical steps can a writer take to balance the cognitive with the intuitive and create a poem which is a surprise to both the reader and the poet? What part does difficulty play in freeing us from the predictable? Can we foster conditions which allow the poem to help write itself?

In this immersive, practical workshop, we'll share a variety of poetic journeys, discuss key themes and issues, but we'll mainly be writing ourselves, through a sequence of quick-fire, focussed writing exercises we'll map the journey of the poem from first thought to last word.

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 Join us for another fabulous & unique workshop with John's inspiring discussion and quick-fire writing exercises!  Many of you told me that you found quite a few poems emerged from John's previous workshops (me too).

1.5 hours long

Start time: 10am UK time // 5pm Perth Australia // 6.30pm Adelaide // 6.30 Darwin // 7pm Brisbane // 7pm Sydney, AEST // 9pm NZ

Online on Zoom

Cost £25 GBP (with cost effective exchange via STRIPE)

Times on the homepage of this site are in London, UK Timezone, but when you add the event to your calendar it should be correct for your local time zone.

You can check your timezone against London UK time here: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-gadgets/time-zone-converter/

Waiting list - If live workshops places have sold out, please contact me directly here: https://www.tickettailor.com/promoter/help/link/cathdrakestheverandah if you'd like to be included on a waiting list for the live workshops. Don't forget to include the name of the workshop or use the dropdown list.

John Glenday is the author of four poetry collections. 'The Apple Ghost' (Peterloo Poets 1989) won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award; 'Undark' (Peterloo Poets 1995) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; 'Grain' (Picador 2009) was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize and the Ted Hughes Award, and 'The Golden Mean' (Picador 2015) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year and won the 2016 Roehampton Poetry Prize. His most recent publications are a limited edition artbook 'mira', (Coast to Coast to Coast 2019) and a pamphlet, 'The Firth' (Mariscat Press 2020). His Selected Poems was published by Picador in 2020.

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Zoom link and materials will be sent by email at least 2 days prior. If you don’t receive it get in touch with me.

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