An opportunity to take part in a free poetry workshop focusing on lockdown experiences.
Words for Wellbeing will be a friendly and accessible workshop exploring our experiences of reading during the Covid-19 lockdown and discussing the types of reading material we were drawn to. We will think about practical ways people coped during lockdown: from the perspectives of those shielding or isolating, through to frontline workers thrust into the heart of the pandemic, and hear a variety of poetry, exploring some of the ways these might create empathy and solidarity – or any other emotion – through creative techniques such as colour imagery, metaphor and personification.
We will discover or refresh a variety of poetic devices to help us paint vivid pictures with our own words and communicate effectively through poetry as a creative outlet to reflect on our own lockdown experiences and those of others.
Everyone will be encouraged, guided and supported during the workshop to take part in the creative activities and to write their own poems. The workshop is suitable for anyone who would like to take part – you do not need to have written poetry before!
Mel Wardle Woodend, (Staffordshire Poet Laureate 2019-2022), MA Creative Writing; PG Certificate in Professional Studies in Education; Member of the National Association of Writers in Education
Dr Marcello Giovanelli, Reader and Head of English, Languages and Applied Linguistics (ELAL)
Adults/Young People
Anyone interested in writing poetry and the relationship of poetry reading and writing to wellbeing
Workshop 1: Face to face 16-18 year olds
Workshop 2: Face to face adults
Workshop 3: Online adults
Workshop 4: Online 16-18 year olds
Each workshop targets a specific audience: