Poetry Underground: World Poetry Day Workshop

About

Creswell Crags
Saturday 21 March 2020 | 9.30am - 12.30pm
£12 adult, £10 student or senior citizen (£4 parking charge)

This World Poetry Day, please join Creswell Crags' Poet-in-Residence, Hannah Cooper-Smithson, for a unique nature poetry writing class featuring a writing session in a cave!
In this workshop you will discuss how writing can help connect with the world around you, and how this can inspire care and conversation. By immersing yourselves (quite literally) in the rich natural environment at Creswell Crags, you will explore how writing poetry can connect you with the earth, and all its inhabitants.

In this session you will:
- Learn how to capture vivid, original images in your writing
- Experience a unique underground writing session in one of Creswell Crags' caves
- Discuss the role of poetry in connecting with nature
- Produce your own poetic responses to Creswell Crags, and receive feedback

You don't need to have any previous experience – beginners are welcome!

This workshop is for adults and older teenagers and is not suitable for children.
There is also a £4 charge for parking, which allows you to park all day. Creswell Crags is accessible by train with a 20 minute walk from Creswell station.

Hot drinks will be provided and there is an onsite cafe if you wish to purchase food.
This session will include a walk into the gorge and to one of the caves, to experience nature and the cave environment first-hand. Please make sure you dress appropriately for this - with footwear suitable for muddy footpaths and a light waterproof coat. The caves tend to match the same temperature as the outside, so judge your clothing according to the weather that day, with the expectation of being outside/in a cave for at least an hour.

When you go into the cave, you will be required to wear a helmet with a torch attached. This workshop may not be suitable for you if you suffer from claustrophia or will be uncomfortable or anxious in a cave. Please note, there is no seating in the cave - please wear clothing you are happy to get damp/dusty if you sit on the rocky surfaces or floor inside the cave.

The Visitor Centre is fully accessible, but the caves are not - you will need to be able to climb a wooden staircase, briefly duck down to pass under a low ceiling, and walk on uneven floors inside the cave. If you have access needs, please contact us in advance to discuss these.
If the weather is really wet, alternative provisions will be made but the workshop will still go ahead.

Please make sure you bring your own writing materials (pen or pencil and notebook) as these will not be provided. If you need to bring a laptop, you may, but please be advised that this will be at your own risk – there will be periods of time where the room will be left unattended, and there is no secure storage available. You will not be able to take a laptop into the cave.

Hannah Cooper-Smithson is a poet and doctoral researcher at Nottingham Trent University. Her poetry has been published in various journals and anthologies, including The Interpreter's House, Reliquiae, and becoming-Botanical: a postmodern liber herbalis (Objet-a Creative Studios, 2019). This is her second workshop at Creswell Crags, following on from the successful Writing Wellbeing workshop in February.