Explore and challenge stories of the British Empire through creating poetry. Sign up here!
Please be mindful when booking. This is a workshop for Black writers and writers of colour based in Scotland (or for people who, pre-COVID, would have normally been resident in Scotland).
Join Laila Sumpton for this 1.5-hour, online writing workshop!
Join poet Laila Sumpton, who leads Poetry Vs Colonialism, to explore and challenge stories of the British Empire through a series of writing activities. We will discuss our experiences of learning about colonialism and focus our writing around the history of cotton and the East Indian Company- inspired by museum artefacts and art work. The forms we will use to unpack these stories will be the pantoum, cinquain and list poem. Poetry Vs Colonialism works with academics, museums, poets, artists and schools to investigate histories of empire, making a space for writers to respond in a multisensory way to the complex legacies of colonialism. Our entry point is the items traded in the British Empire: gold, cotton, tobacco and sugar.
Find out more: www.poetryvcolonialism.co.uk
Essential items include: access to the internet, a working camera and mic, and pen and paper
The Details
- There is a max of 22 spaces.
- This intermediate craft seminar will be hosted online using Zoom (instructions will be sent to participants closer to the event date).
- There are two types of tickets: Free tickets for writers on low-income and Pay What You Can (Suggested £5+).
- Our free events are very popular and have a waitlist. If you have registered for a ticket but then are unable to attend please do let us know so we can offer it to another person on the waitlist. Thank you!
- If you have any accessibility needs or requirements, please do let us know by writing in at scotBAMEwriters@gmail.com at the earliest and we shall do our best to meet your requirements.
- All SBWN events will adhere to our safer spaces policy. You can learn more about our policy here.
Access & Tech
Before participating in this online event, please note the following:
- To participate you will need an internet/wi-fi connection, a desktop or mobile device to join by audio and/or video and writing materials/device.
- Events are hosted online using Zoom (instructions will be sent 2 days before each event or can be accessed via the Eventbrite Online Event page).
- Automatic live captions and transcripts are provided via Otter.ai. Please add your access requirements during registration (for example BSL/in-person captioner) and we’ll do our best to provide.
- You can also email any access requirements to us: scotbamewriters@gmail.com
About Laila
Laila Sumpton is a London based poet, editor, performer and educator who works with schools, hospitals, museums, galleries and charities on a wide variety of poetry projects. She manages the Arts Council funded initiative Poetry Vs Colonialism- where poets work with museums, academics and schools to explore the British empire and its legacy. She was recently the Keats House Poet in residence and has co – edited ‘Where We Find Ourselves’, an anthology from Global Majority writers published by Arachne Press. Laila has been commissioned by Tate Modern, the Tower of London and the Royal Free Hospital amongst others and published in numerous anthologies and magazines including Ambit and Modern Poetry in Translation. She studied English Literature at St Andrews where she regularly worked with the Stanza International Poetry Festival, and is delighted to be working with Scottish BAME writers.
Website: www.poetryvcolonialism.co.uk
Twitter: @lailanadia
Instagram: @laila.sumpton
(Please can you use the hashtag #PoetryVsColonialism if referencing the project online.)
