Awesome Poetry: The Air Year

OPEN TO ALL SQUADS

One of the very best ways to become a better writer is to read widely and thoughtfully. Building on Emma and Matt’s great work in establishing the Awesome Play Text / Screenplay Reading Club, and Francesca's prose club, Malika and Stevie are hosting the Awesome Poetry Reading Club to focus on how we can read as writers.

If you want to join us, then here's what you need to know:

This session will focus on Caroline Bird's The Air Year. The text can be purchased here.

The Air Year is a time of flight, transition and suspension: signatures scribbled on the sky. Bird's speakers exist in a state of unrest, trapped in a liminal place between take-off and landing, undeniably lost. Love is uncontrollable, joy comes and goes at hurricane speed. They walk to the cliff edge, close their eyes and step out into the air.

How will it work?

The club Zoom is relaxed. We just talk about what we think of the work - did it work for us, and why (or why not)?. We’ll ask ourselves: What’s the writer doing here? What are the skills and techniques being used, and what’s their effect? We hope that you’ll leave the session with a sharpened idea of some of the tools available to us as writers, and how you might play with them.

It won’t be like a university tutorial (not formal or academic), nor will it be like a book club (we’ll be coming from the perspective of writers, not just readers), nor will it be like a writing workshop (no writing exercises).

Will Steve D buy me the book?

No, sorry. Squad funds don't stretch that far, so you'll need to source each text yourself. But you’ll have plenty of time to track down a copy (remember that your local library may well have it, including as an e-book). You could consider organising to get one copy between a few of you, to bring expenses down. And we’ll always choose texts that are widely available in paperback.

If I sign up for this awesome club, will I have to come to every Awesome Club meeting?

Never fear! You can come to as many or as few Zoom meets as you like.

What if I'm a prose or script writer, can I still come?

Yes you can. This is a club aimed at poets, but all Squad members, whatever your area of interest, are welcome. We'd love to get loads of different perspectives.

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