We are delighted to get to share an opportunity for young people (16-25) to attend a free week-long poetry workshop based in Glasgow from 28 March – 1 April 2017.
Scottish PEN is working with PEN International and the Roundhouse on a project called ‘Talking Doorsteps’, which aims to bring together six young people from Scotland and six young people who have experienced forced displacement. This project is running in Scotland, England, Abu Dhabi, Trinidad, and Honduras. We are currently looking for participants – you can find the application form below.
Taking part will consist of a free, five day writing workshop, in which you will explore themes of home and community, get the chance to develop your skills as a writer and performer, and – hopefully – have a lot of fun. The week will culminate with a public performance, and you’ll also get the opportunity to turn a finished poem into a video to share online. Two participants will be invited to a London-based workshop and performance week in June (all costs covered).
We’re looking for people who love to write, who want to make their voices heard, and who want to be part of an open, collaborative, creative community of young people around the world.
Structure:
- 5 day creative writing workshop (28th March – 1st April in Glasgow)
- Live performance
- 12 x 2min poems filmed and released digitally
- 1 x week in London (for 2 participants) in June with participants from the other projects around the world.
Application criteria:
- Enthusiasm for poetry/spoken word/storytelling
- 16-25 years old
- We are looking for a mix of young people who have experienced forced displacement and those who have not
If you sit just outside the age bracket but would really like to take part, drop us an email and let’s talk.
You can download the application form here – please return this to christina@scottishpen.org by 9 March at the latest.
Your teachers:
Deanna Rodger is an international writer, performer and facilitator. She co-curates two leading spoken word events: Chill Pill and Come Rhyme With Me, and is on the board of Safe Ground. Deanna was the youngest ever UK Slam champion in 2007/8 and has been named one of ELLE UK’s ’30 inspirational women under 30 and Cosmopolitan’s ‘No.1 trailblazing woman’. She has led workshops around the world in Canada (British Council/Shakespeare lives), Beirut (Roundhouse), South Africa (Connect ZA and Roundhouse), Zimbabwe (British Council) and Sudan (British Council), whilst tearing up stages at festivals like Glastonbury and Bestival, venues like the Roundhouse, and literary events around the world. Deanna teaches the Writing Poetry for Performance module with Benjamin Zephaniah at Brunel University, and is a tutor at School of Communication Arts.
Sarah Perry is a writer and campaigner. Her poetry saw her longlisted for London’s Young Poet Laureate in 2013, and the following year she was shortlisted for Mslexia’s Fiction Award. In 2015, a collection of poetry embedded in Soho was published as a result of a commission from her time as the Cityread Young Writer in Residence. Sarah also set up the Great Men project, and has run numerous community projects exploring creativity, wellness, social justice, and storytelling, in places ranging from Bulgaria to Brighton. She also qualified on the spoken word educator programme, spending a year as a resident writer in a school exploring emotional literacy, writing and performance skills, and community narrative. She currently runs PEN International’s global campaign Make Space, while working on a new piece of fiction.
The project has been produced internationally since 2015, by Roundhouse with partners in South Africa (WordNSound and Slip), Bulgaria (New Vision), Wales (NT Wales) and Lebanon (El Yafta). It has worked with over 90 young poets, and in June 2016 selected 10 of those poets to come together in London for a week of collaboration, creating and introductions to the London poetry scene. These poets continue to collaborate post-project, and have recently put in an independent application to the British Council to create a new piece of work together.
Featured image: Winter Doorstep by Liam Moloney on Flickr, used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 license.
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