How might poets respond to the violence, crises and dislocations of the contemporary world? Do Apocalyptic times demand a new, Apocalyptic poetics?
On this course participants will encounter a range of approaches, techniques and methods that might help them explore the turbulence of the times without resorting to the ranter’s soapbox or succumbing to lyric despair.
Steve Ely has written several acclaimed collections of poetry, most recently Lectio Violant and The European Eel. His books have won or been nominated for Forward, Ted Hughes, Northern Writers and Michael Marks awards & prizes. He has also written a novel, Ratmen, and Ted Hughes’s South Yorkshire, a biographical work about the former poet laureate. He teaches creative writing at the University of Huddersfield, the Poetry School, the Arvon Foundation—and has tutored at the Garsdale Retreat several times. He is currently organising a symposium focused on the Apocalyptic mode in modern and contemporary English poetry.
Guest: Helen Tookey is a poet based in Liverpool, where she teaches creative writing at Liverpool John Moores University.
Dates: 31st October – 5th November 2022
Location: The Garsdale Retreat, Clough View, Garsdale Head, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5PW
Cost: £860 - £620
Book your place here
The Garsdale Retreat is a creative writing centre, providing courses and untutored retreats, in the remote and beautiful setting of The Yorkshire Dales.