Writing in Relation: a poetry workshop with Alycia Pirmohamed

How do we write in relation to our histories – our inheritances? And how do we write in relation to one another in the ever-changing contexts of our world(s)? In this workshop, we will read poetry that explores these entanglements, thinking about collectivity, shifting personal and political narratives, and how we consciously or unconsciously write toward/to another. This workshop will incorporate hybrid, cross-genre works; docu-poetics; and poetry with intertextual elements. In the session, there will be time for close reading, discussion, and writing exercises. The title of this workshop was inspired by Édouard Glissant’s Poetics of Relation and Susan Briante’s Defacing the Monument.

Alycia Pirmohamed is the author of the poetry collection Another Way to Split Water. Her other works include Hinge, Faces that Fled the Wind, and the collaborative work, Second Memory, which was co-authored by Pratyusha. Her nonfiction debut A Beautiful and Vital Place won the 2023 Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing and is forthcoming with Canongate. Alycia currently teaches on the Creative Writing master’s at the University of Cambridge. She is the co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network and a co-organiser of the Ledbury Poetry Critics, and she is the recipient of several awards including a Pushcart Prize, the CBC Poetry Prize, and the 2020 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award.

Established in 2018, the87press is an Asian, LGBTQIA+, and neurodiverse led publishing collective and events curator in South London. We prioritize modernism, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and environmentalism in our print publications of poetry, fiction, and essays. Additionally, we offer educational and creative workshops, industry leading live events, and regular commissioned work with online journal of culture theHythe. Committed to equity, all authors receive fair contracts regardless of their background. As part of Arts Council England's National Portfolio, we contribute to the Let's Create project and look forward to fostering inclusive learning spaces as the only NPO in the London Borough of Sutton.