CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS,
ULVERSTON, CUMBRIA, UK- “WALKING STORIES : LEAVING
FOOTPRINTS”
October 20th
2012
Some fine writing produced after our short walk on Birkrigg, overlooking
the vast expanse of Morecambe Bay and north to the Cumbrian fells, then on to
Sunbrick, the Quaker Burial Mound.
The entrance/exit into and from the 17th century Quaker
burial ground prompted us to discuss edges/entrances from one space/time to another,
boundaries between self and other, between waking and
dreaming, between seasons marked by Celts and others through ritual,
Imbolc, Samhain, Beltane, Lughnasadh, or space/time between past and present, recalled and recorded through poetry.
Here's what writer John Burnside has to say on boundaries and the space
between:
“Everything that is interesting
in nature happens at the boundaries”[1]
The spaces between the ‘self’ and ‘the other’ where everything takes
place have long been a source of fascination for poets and myth-makers. … those
Celts who once inhabited the British Isles … recognised a space which they
called (in Irish) idir eathara that is, a boundary that is neither one
place nor another, but the space between the two.[2]
[1] John Burnside quoting psychologist,
Nicholas Humphreys http://www.hum.uit.no/nordlit/1/burnside.html
The outdoor session was rounded off by a drive to Roa Island with its
views across the channel to Piel Island and its early 12th century Castle,
then home for reflection and indoor workshop exercises, hot drinks and home
made flapjacks.
For the next workshop please bring one A4 page poem/prose piece to be
workshopped, plus a poem that means something to you, or a poet whose work you
admire, for brief group discussion. There'll be more indoor
workshop exercises and a short walk/explore outdoors, plus writing in response
to boundaries, dreams and myth.
Examples
of my workshop exercises can be found in “Writing Works : A Resource Handbook for Therapeutic Writing
Workshops and Activities”, edited by Gillie Bolton, Victoria Field, Kate
Thompson Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 116 Pentonville Road , London N1 9JB,
England. August 2006.
This is very interesting, Geraldine, thanks for sharing. Val
ReplyDeleteHi Val and thanks. the creative writing workshops series I run "Walking Stories, Leaving Footprints" explores the 'space between' - here's how I describe the workshops: "an Exploration of Actual and Imaginative Space – these creative writing workshops explore ‘walks’ through inner and outer landscapes, whether those landscapes are real, imagined, or dreamed.
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