SQUAD 10, YORK

IF YOU HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THIS SESSION PREVIOUSLY, PLEASE DO SO AGAIN HERE TO CONFIRM YOUR PLACE

A workshop in bookmaking, writing and play with Stevie Ronnie.

We will be discussing the materiality of books and what affect a book’s material aspects can have on the way the reader experiences our words. We'll consider the benefits and drawbacks for writers of producing and distributing your own work in the form of handmade books, and explore the ways in which the practice of making can feed into our writing practice.

What will the workshop involve?

Bookmaking – We will be physically making books and exploring simple bookbinding techniques and formats with a range of materials. Writing – We will be using words as a material in the bookmaking process. This will be different to the way in which writers would usually write in a creative writing workshop in the sense that participants will be encouraged to experiment with incorporating words into physical objects.Play – The second half of the workshop will be a more open creative play session where the writers will be given access to a wide range of tools and materials and invited to explore the ideas and techniques that were introduced in the first half of the workshop.

Do I need to bring anything?

Not an essential requirement but more of a challenge:

It is interesting to think about the ephemeral role that paper plays in our day to day lives - we often throw it away or recycle it without a second thought. As writers, paper is also an essential material both for the writing process and for the presentation of our work in its final form. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to collect paper that you would usually throw away and bring it to the workshop to use as material for making books. It might be useful to think of a rule or a set of criteria for your collection (e.g. blue things, beautiful things, dull things, things that your family has handed to you, etc.)

About Stevie Ronnie

Stevie Ronnie is a writer, artist and digital creative engaged in a dialogue with language in all of its possible forms. Working across multiple creative disciplines, he produces layered and playful artworks and literary artefacts that explore the hidden, the unsaid and the unseen. Much of his work is rooted in poetry and poetics, occupying the space at the intersection of literature, visual art and technology.

He has exhibited widely and published one full-length collection of poems, four poetry pamphlets and several handmade artist’s book editions. His latest publication is and for you (love) (2019), an artist’s book of Braille poems, which was self-published via kickstarter. Stevie has held residencies in art galleries, libraries, schools, urban communities and on a tall ship in the High Arctic. His artist’s books are held in several public and private collections including the Bodleian Library’s Rare Book and Manuscript Collection and the artist’s book collections at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary art and The British Library. Stevie has received a Northern Writers Award, a Jerwood / Arvon Menteeship, three GFA awards / a DYCP grant from Arts Council England, and two prestigious MacDowell Fellowships in the US for his interdisciplinary works.

This workshop is for Squad 10, if you are in Squad 1-9 and want to reserve a place, email billie@writingsquad.com

Note: This workshop is only open to members of the Writing Squad, and not to the general public.

Material and Materials