It’s one of the highlights of the annual Bridlington Poetry Festival, and Wordquake – East Riding Libraries’ unique literature project – is delighted to be bringing Poetry Scope back to local schools.
It’s the fifth year of the innovative project involving eight schools across Bridlington, with MC/rapper and beatboxer Andy Brooks – aka Testament – and writer Christina Lewis hosting a series of intensive workshops over the next couple of weeks to support and encourage students to look at poetry in a new way. The theme for this year’s writing workshops will be ‘freedom and flight’, linking in with Sewerby Hall’s close links with ground-breaking aviation icon Amy Johnson and the 75th anniversary of her death.
Christina says: ‘People are sometimes a bit intimidated by poetry, but the point of Poetry Scope is to introduce young people to new forms and ideas and, most importantly, to have fun – we want to discover and foster talent, getting young people excited about language and creativity.’
‘Poetry Scope continues to be a great opportunity to introduce children and young people to poetry and live literature and to meet real poets and writers. We want them to feel that poetry is exciting and relevant and to feel that literature is for everyone – we’re really hoping to help create the writers and readers of the future’.
Andy and Christina will be running an intensive week of writing workshops at Bridlington School as well as Hilderthorpe, Martongate, Burlington, Boynton, Bempton, Our Lady and Saint Peter New Pasture Lane primary schools, culminating in the Bridlington Poetry Festival Schools’ Day. Held at Sewerby Hall, this day of workshops and performance is a celebration of the week’s work, with young writers from The Writing Squad and special guest Hollie McNish. Hollie is a poet and spoken word artist, UK slam poetry champion in 2009 and more recently, author of Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood.
Antony Dunn, Artistic Director of Bridlington Poetry Festival, said: ‘It’s wonderful to have Hollie at the Festival this year – we were delighted she could perform on Friday evening, but it’s a huge added bonus to have her for Poetry Scope as well. She’s a big name on the poetry and spoken word circuit now, so it’s a great opportunity for the young people to see where their own talents could lead and how to go about writing and performing poetry.’
Poetry Scope begins on National Poetry Day, Thursday October 6, and runs until Friday October 14. Any schools interested in being involved in the 2017 project should contact Festival Director Dorcas Taylor at Dorcas.Taylor@eastriding.gov.uk.
Full details of the 2016 Bridlington Poetry Festival – now incorporated in the Lit Up Festival – can be found at www.litup.org.uk
