About the course

Come along to a gentle and experimental series of writing workshops that explores the theme of ‘journeying’. Recent events have slowed our external movement and guided many of us towards more internal journeys of development and discovery. As people begin to travel again, we’re adventuring in different places – often closer to home – and with a new perspective.

For inspiration, we’ll read extracts from contemporary authors and poets who create work that journeys both inward and outward, sometimes even entering new worlds or retracing the footsteps of others. At the end of our four weeks together, you’ll have new ways to approach moving on from an empty page and some writing to develop further at home—prose, poetry, life-writing or whatever strikes you. Come and develop your creativity in a sensitive and generous environment, and together we’ll experiment with different ways of approaching the creative journey.

We hope to have access to indoor and outdoor space and we may move around a little, so please wear sensible footwear and comfortable clothes and let us know about any access needs. Please bring something to write with and on.

Who is it for?

This course is for people with an interest in writing who are from global majority backgrounds—Black, Asian, Brown, indigenous to the global south, dual/mixed heritage, or otherwise racialized as belonging to an ‘ethnic minority.’

Travel costs of up to £2/session are available to ensure access. Please contact us if you’d like more information, or simply bring your ticket/receipt to the session to be reimbursed.

Dates

Tuesdays 17, 24, May, 07, 14 June 2022

Time

10.00 am – 12 pm

Cost

£8 total (£2 per session). As we have limited spaces available we are charging a small fee to ensure commitment to the course.

About the course leaders

IMPART has been generously supported by the Baring Foundation to provide a year-long training and development programme under its Creatively Minded and Ethnically Diverse strand. Emerging writers are being mentored by more experienced ones in how to run creative writing workshops. In this instance, Josephine Hall is being mentored by Katy Massey and Akila Richards. Josie and Akila are co-leading the course.

About Josephine Hall 

Josephine is a writer and artist, currently based in Brighton. She works primarily with words, but enjoys experimenting with other artforms and collaborating with artists and musicians. Josephine writes poetry, life writing, articles, essays, songs and has recently started writing her first novel. Her creative work tends to explore themes such as belonging, journeying, healing, connecting with nature and the Black/mixed-race experience. She endeavours to make work that is honest, and accessible, and amplifies marginalised voices, particularly those from the global majority. Find out more and see some work at www.josephinehall.org.

About Katy Massey

Katy worked as a journalist for many years before completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. As an editor and project leader she has specialised in developing and publishing neglected voices, enabling over 50 new writers to publish their lived experience. Her memoir of growing up in Leeds in the 1908s, Are we home yet? (Jacaranda) will be published in the US in May 2022. After its UK release, it was praised by Bernardine Evaristo, short-listed for the Jhalak Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. Her work has also been shortlisted by Penguin WriteNow, SI Leeds Literary Prize, Route’s A Few Good Books, and CommonWord/Cultureword First Novel competition. In 2019 she contributed to Kit De Waal’s Common People anthology of working class life writing.

About Akila Richards

Akila is an award-winning writer and spoken word artist, performing and collaborating inter/nationally in different settings. Her portfolio includes coaching and mentoring, commissions across artistic genres and creating culturally creative events; currently as Artist in House for ‘Rest My Resistance’ at Brighton Dome, and producing a range of new work. Her poems and short stories have been published by Penguin, Peepal Tree Press, Creative Future, Waterloo Press, Covert Magazine and in a range of audio online performances. She is due to publish her first poetry pamphlet and is editing her first novel.

If the course is full, you can sign up for the waiting list by emailing us here.

These workshops are supported by