Rewriting the Waterways with Professor Jodie Matthews

There are hundreds of canal stories to tell: this one is rarely told. A creative writing workshop on the history of canals and enslavement.

This inclusive workshop involves reading short extracts from poems and life writing by black and white authors to explore the relationship between the region’s industrial canals and histories of enslavement in Africa and the Americas.

There are hundreds of canal stories to tell: this one is rarely told. Participants can contribute their thoughts, feelings and creative ideas about encountering this uncomfortable history of the canal, or are welcome to have a quieter and more reflective experience. No previous experience of poetry or creative writing is required.

Jodie Matthews is a professor of literature at Manchester Metropolitan University and before that worked at Huddersfield University. She is the author of The British Industrial Canal: Reading the Waterways from the Eighteenth Century to the Anthropocene and has been researching the literature and culture of the waterways for over a decade.

NOTE: This workshop involves discussing the painful history of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and their descendants.

Adults only 18 +