Residential Poetry Course in St Ives

Steve Ely and I have been working really hard this week to pull the timetable together for the residential poetry course that we’re running in St Ives next year, from the 15th to the 20th February.

Below you will find the timetable and a short description of the workshops that we have planned for the week.  You can also find this information by hovering over the ‘Residential Poetry Courses’ tab and clicking on the St Ives page or you can just follow this link here

The course takes place at Treloyhan Manor Hotel, which overlooks Carbis Bay and is situated on the edge of St Ives.  The price of £395 includes breakfast and a three course evening meal, accommodation and all workshops and tuition.

The course is suitable for beginners and more experienced writers.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about the course, but to book a place, please phone Treloyhan Manor Hotel on 01736796240

Draft Timetable (this may be subject to small changes!)
Thrown Voices – Monday 15th-Saturday 20th February 2016

Monday 15th February
5pm-6pm – Welcome and short writing workshop in the lounge

6.30pm – Evening Meal

8pm – Evening Reading in the lounge
Bring a favourite poem to share with the group, written by somebody else.

Tuesday 16th February
10am-1pm – Morning Workshop with Kim Moore
Shape Shifters and Ventriloquists
Shape shifting is the ability to physically transform into another being or form, while ventriloquism is the art or practice of speaking in such a manner that the voice does not appear to come from the speaker but from another source. Poets have always become shapeshifters and ventriloquists to find ways of telling stories that are both their own, and somebody else’s.   During this workshop, we will experiment with different ways of throwing our voices and how taking the shape of another can impact on our writing. Please bring an object that means something to you along to the workshop.  

2.30pm-4.30pm – Afternoon Workshop with Steve Ely
Deviant Voices & the Dramatic Monologue
The truism ‘we all love a good villain’  is embodied in the fact that many of the most compelling characters in literature – Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost, Anton Chigurh in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men – are often the most immoral, corrupt and criminal.  This workshop will explore the ways poets have given expression to such deviant voices and provide resources, stimuli and techniques that will enable participants to create a consistent and compelling voice for fictional or re-imagined villains in the dramatic monologue form.  The possibilities of developing such work into more extended forms – such as sequences or pamphlet-length pieces will be explored.

6.30pm – Evening Meal

8pm – Poetry Reading in the lounge by Steve Ely and Kim Moore

Wednesday 17th February
10am-1pm – Morning Workshop with Steve Ely
The Bible from Below
Each book of the Bible contains a whole ensemble of characters alongside the main protagonists.   Alongside Jesus in the Gospels we find important but largely silent characters such as Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ father Joseph and the nameless ‘woman taken in adultery’.  Similarly, in the books of Samuel, alongside Saul, David and Samuel himself, we encounter Hannah, Samuel’s mother, Agag, the Amalekite king and David’s first wife Michal, each of whom is denied significant utterance.  This workshop will explore a range of Biblical texts to investigate the role and significance of these intriguing characters and to explore ways in which we might poetically articulate their voices and points-of-view, re-writing the Biblical stories ‘from below’.

2.30pm – 4.30pm – Afternoon Workshop with Kim Moore
Holding Your Tongue
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the thing that kills a person who has been transformed into an animal, tree or bird, is not the transformation of the body, but the loss of speech. Ovid elevates the ability to communicate over and over again throughout his epic poem. There are many ways of being silenced of course but against this, putting pen to paper becomes an act of defiance. During this workshop we will be reading poems which push against an imperative for silence, exploring what it means to have a voice and writing about what happens when the ability to speak is taken away.

6.30pm Evening Meal

8pm – Poetry Reading with Mystery Guest Poet

Thursday 18th February
10am-1pm – Morning Workshop with Steve Ely and Kim Moore
People Watching in St Ives
During this workshop we will look at the different ways that poets write about people – from closely drawn observations to dramatic monologues. We will talk about the art of people watching before letting participants loose to wander the streets of St Ives. Participants will create their own dramatic monologues, drawing on observations and their imaginations to create their own characters.

2.30pm onwards – Free Afternoon – Tutorials available with Kim or Steve

6.30pm – Evening Meal

8pm – Poetry Quiz/Discussion in the Lounge

Friday 19th February
10am-1pm – Critiquing Workshop with Steve Ely and Kim Moore
Please bring 10 copies of a poem that you would like feedback on.  Photocopying is available at the hotel but there will be a charge.

2.30pm onwards – Free Afternoon

6.30pm – Evening Meal

8pm – Participants Poetry Reading in the Lounge

Saturday 20^th February

Breakfast and departures