The World as a Trampoline: Poetry & the Surreal with Jonathan Edwards
The World as a Trampoline: Poetry & the Surreal with Jonathan Edwards
I admire works that use fantasy, treat the world as a trampoline’ – Seamus Heaney
One of the most exciting things about poetry is the way it allows us to unleash the full power of the imagination, bringing to life fantastical, impossible and magical scenarios. On this writing day, we will explore poems that re-make real experiences in surreal and illuminating new ways, using the world as a trampoline to jet off sky-wards.
Join us for a special Hive masterclass on 23rd July with award-winning Welsh poet, Jonathan Edwards, and be inspired by a wide range of wonderfully surreal poems. We’ll look at poems from inspiring contemporary poets, and consider a wide range of approaches, including unusual points of view, time travel, strange physics, and the use of popular culture and humour, to really unlock the imaginative potential of a range of subjects.
Jonathan knows a thing or two about writing the surreal, as is evident in his two fabulous award-winning collections. Expect a fun and insightful writing day, working with a much-celebrated Welsh poet, and emerge with a handful of new drafts tucked under your arm, and your imagination trampolining through the stratosphere!
The World as a Trampoline: Poetry & the Surreal
Hive supported by Sheffield Hallam University
Saturday 23th July 10.45 to 4.30/5pm
Where: Cantor building, Arundel Street Sheffield (4 minutes from the train station)
Booking: [email protected]
Cost: £6 – Why so cheap? To encourage young writers to travel from the nearby north to enjoy the day with us!
Open to writers aged 15 to 30 of any experience level | welcome, expect a warm and encouraging atmosphere!
Jonathan Edwards’s first collection, My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren, 2014), received the Costa Poetry Award and the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award, and was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. His second collection, Gen (Seren, 2018), also received the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award. His poem about Newport Bridge was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2019, and he has received prizes in the Ledbury Festival International Poetry Competition, the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition and the Cardiff International Poetry Competition. He has read his poems on BBC radio and television and at festivals around the world, recorded them for the Poetry Archive and led workshops in schools, universities and prisons.
Image coursey of P Bajracharya