Ahead of the official Launch of our Changing Landscapes anthology on 28th November I am pleased to have received two boxes of books.
I thoroughly enjoyed the process of collating the contributions, editing and designing the layout and creating the cover design. It has been a privilege to work with these writers.
The poems in this anthology are created by local writers who came together through a series of workshops. Some are very experienced poets whilst others are just setting out on their poetic odysseys. The poets supported and inspired each other and the result is a collection that explores a range of styles and approaches.
We have included several “concrete poems”, where the words and visual shape combine to enhance to the subject. We also include a dialect poem along with an illustration created by the poet..
Some poems speak directly to the “Changing Landscapes” theme, whilst others are less direct. Some poets considered the changes observed through the seasons, as the light changes throughout a single day, or during a brief journey.
We hope that the variety of approach adopted by the poets helps to reflect the varied nature of the changing landscapes around our homes on the edge of the Pennines.
The quality of the poetry from the contributors is really good and the range of responses to our local landscapes has been really inspirational.
Fridays 10am to 12noon – 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th Sept, 3rd Oct
In September I will be leading a series of poetry workshops where we will look at the landscapes around Littleborough and the surrounding hills and moors. There will be plenty of inspiration, discussion and poetic hints and tips to enable participants to write some poetry to be proud of.
An anthology of poems created from these sessions will be published and distributed in a large print format making it accessible for people who might not be able to access poetry in the typical smaller print sizes. A launch event for the book will be announced once a date can be finalised and all contributing poets will have the chance to read some of their work at the launch.
Bookings are currently open. There is a charge of £25, payable at the first session, which covers the 5 workshops and a copy of the anthology. Places are limited and can be booked by emailing Liz White at: lizwhitecreative@gmail.com
One of the sessions, 12th September (weather permitting), will consist of a field trip to explore and discuss the local landscapes.
This project is supported with funding from Grantscape and organised by Liz White for Create and Connect.
Sometimes nature can be the inspiration for making new images and sometimes it can inspire new creative writing. Recently I was thinking back to a time about 50 years ago when I was walking the last part of the journey to school and was distracted by a Merlin flying just a few yards away and parallel to the path. I’d never seen one before and it was genuinely stunning. A small bird of prey it was struggling in the face of a very strong wind so I was able to watch it closely for a while. I was a bit late for school but it is a memory I still treasure and I’ve never since seen a Merlin. That inspired the little poem below, and after that I couldn’t resist adding it with drawing into my nature journal.
Sometimes the idea comes from the image and then the words come along afterwards as was the case with this watercolour sketch and poem about a grey seal.
Not everything in the journal includes poetry and the spread below has a few little nuggets of folklore and myth along with 25 additional names for Digitalis, the plant we now call Foxglove. There watercolours were painted from one of the beautiful foxgloves that have been thriving in our garden in the last month.
We still have a few places left on our poetry workshops at Hare Hill House on Saturday 28th June.
There are two workshops to choose from both running from 10am to 12noon.
Becky May will be running a Contemporary Poetry session while I will running a Nature poetry session. The workshops cost just £5 per person and you can book by emailing Liz white – lizwhitecreative@gmail.com or myself – seamus@onepoetsvision.co.uk
After the workshops there will be poetry performances and then in the afternoon Yorkshire poet and author Gaia Holmes will be discussing her work, including her recently published collection of short stories “He used to do dangerous things”. The afternoon session is free of charge and all are welcome.
This promises to be an enjoyable and productive day of poetry in the historic Hare Hill House in Littleborough.
If you are a nature lover you probably already know how being outside among plants, trees and all kinds of wildlife, can help lift your mood and make you feel good. But did you know that recording your experiences, observations and thoughts can multiply those benefits?
Last weekend my wife, Maggie, and I ran nature journaling session at the Hollingworth Lake Country Park. We all had a great time with a nature work, tips for finding subjects to write about and a range of ways to make illustrations. The participants were shown how you can make a journal using various kinds of paper and they also learned some watercolour techniques to create a nice, and quick, illustration of bluebells.
One of our participants even climbed a tree while the other had a sit down in a den made of branches at the bottom of the tree.
We were really impressed by the enthusiasm, skills and knowledge of those people who came along and really happy to send them home with their own jounaling journey underway.
We were also delighted with the feedback, some of which is shown below:
“Want to do more” “Lovely, awesome” “Thanks very much for this afternoon. I really enjoyed it, much better than I thought I would. It has certainly inspired me and given me confidence to learn more and develop new skills.” “Would be great if there was a journalling group” “Loved seeing lots of different ways of making images” “It was great to spend time on what’s meaningful”
