In a New College Festival of Books and Belief first, we invite you to attend a creative writing workshop guided by author and poet Liz MacWhirter. This is a guided, reflective space to respond creatively in this challenging time. Attendees can work towards a poem, prose, a manifesto, lament or prayer; the aim is to use language as an act of self-care, resistance and hope. There will be prompts for free writing including poems, natural objects and a short film by digital artist Jonathan Kearney. Devices such as list-making and collage will also enable you to explore composting and re-purposing words into poetic forms that serve to both constrain and liberate, whether they retain a poetic structure or lean towards prose. Ultimately, new language may challenge ways of seeing and help engender change that is personal, political, systemic (Callid Keefe-Perry). The poet ‘never closes the case for becoming’ (Roland Faber).
Please note that there will be no compulsion to share your writing on the spot.
Liz MacWhirter
Liz MacWhirter is a writer, speaker and theologian. Her debut novel, ‘Black Snow Falling’ (Scotland Street Press, 2018), gained a Carnegie Medal nomination, and her poetry is published by Lucy Writers, Yale GCRE, Theology in Scotland and 4M Netlabel. Liz has spoken at the Edinburgh International Book Festival; at the Universities of Yale, Oxford, and St Andrews; and is a Scottish Book Trust Live Literature Author. As a creative copywriter Liz won 20 awards, and her PhD, 'When Hope Takes Flight,' explores theopoetics and trauma (University of Glasgow). Liz spends as much time as possible in nature, hiking around her home in the Border hills.
Venue information
In line with fire safety regulations attendees using a wheelchair must be able to self-transfer to an evac chair in order to safely evacuate the building.
This venue is fully accessible however, if you require disabled access, please email divinity.news@ed.ac.uk so that we can ensure we accommodate this.
