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              Available
                      for poetry performances from 10 minutes to 40 minutes 
                    previously performed
                  at : 
                The
                  Poetry Cafe Covent
                  Garden. The
                  Troubadour Earls
                  Court. Cabaret Voltaire Colchester. Enfield
                  Poets The
                  Essex Poetry Festival.
                  The Leigh Folk Festival. Nottingham Poetry Society. The Palace
                  Theatre (Westcliff). Southend Library. The
                  Southend Poetry Group.
                  Club Riga, Westcliff. Sundown (Southend).
                  Waterstones (Southend). St Benets Church, Blackfriars EC4. Colchester
                  Arts Centre. Shakespeare
                  and Company,
                  Paris. Oxfam Poetry Series (Marylebone High St). poetrywivenhoe.
                  Rayleigh Arts Festival. Derwent Poetry Festival. Lumen Poetry
                  Series. Camden Poetry Series. Ride the Word. I Scream Sunday.
                  Howl, Poets off the Shelf, More Poerty, Ware Poets, Poetry
                  Aloud, Sudbury Poets, Dada Invasion London. 
                   
                  Experience poetry writing workshop facilitator  
                    email derek@derek-adams.co.uk for details of how to book a
                    workshop. 
                   
                  Poetry
                      writing workshops provided for : 
                      Farleys
                        House and Gallery, The
                        Lettering Arts Trust, The
                        Gibberd Garden (Harlow), OU Poets,
                      Poetry
                        Wivenhoe, Essex Book Festival, Poetry Aloud (Bury St
                      Edmunds),  Festival of Suffolk Poetry, Ely Folk Festival, Sudbury Café
                      Poets, Essex Poetry Festival, London South Bank
                      University, The
                        Southend Poetry Group. 
                
              Poetry
                      writing workshops offered (1 hour to whole day 6 hrs inc
                      break for lunch ) 
              Using
                    Cinematic Techniques to improve your Poetry (semi
                  darkened room with screen / plain wall for projection
                  useful.  Available as 2.5/3
                    hours or 6 hour) 
                  We will study scenes from movies and discuss the
                  techniques used by the film makers and see how we can use some
                  of them to write our own poems. 
                "Personal
                    thanks to Derek, who made me try cinematic techniques in
                    writing which  I hadn't thought of before. Having spent
                    several decades of my life without a television, I thought
                    my woeful ignorance of film might be a handicap, but Derek's
                    talk was so well illustrated that it wasn't a problem."
                    Florence Cox, Chair of Suffolk Poetry Society. 
                    "I really enjoyed your workshop - the best I have
                    attended!  Because you combined the visual with the
                    verbal and used such well-chosen examples, I felt it offered
                    a new away in to writing poetry which chimed with me as I
                    also work in a visual medium." Sara Impey. 
                 
                Introduction
                    to using Cinematic Techniques to improve your Poetry (semi
                  darkened room with screen / plain wall for projection useful.
                  1.5 hours) 
                We
                  will study scenes from movies and discuss the techniques used
                  by the film makers and see how we can use some of them to
                  write our own poems. Looks at different techniques to the
                  above. 
                   
                 
               
              Ekphrasis:
                    writing Poetry beyond Art.   (this workshop can be
                    made site specific to suit exhibitions, sculpture gardens,
                    or public art in a town)  Available as 2.5/3
                      hours or 6 hour. 
                  The frame of a painting can be the window to another world,
                  step through it with me to explore how you can use art works
                  as a springboard for your own writing. We will use exercises
                  to make your poetry interpret, inhabit and confront a work of
                  art. 
                 
                "Thank
                    you for an enthralling, engaging and memorable day of
                    learning, listening, reading and writing poetry. The whole
                    day was brilliantly planned and organised with clear
                    objectives and guidance at each stage. The ‘handouts’ were
                    well composed, relevant and much appreciated.  
                    The choice of poems and Art works were both fascinating and
                    edifying and I thoroughly enjoyed the snatches of
                    humour."  Sue Foster 
                  
                    "I found the workshop day really enjoyable, in spite of
                    being very apprehensive beforehand and surprised myself by
                    actually managing to respond to the exercises on the day(I'm
                    usually hopeless at producing something to order) so I would
                    like to express my thanks for making it such a relaxed and
                    pleasant experience." Irene James 
                    "Just back from an excellent poetry workshop run by Derek
                    Adams at Gibberd Gardens in Harlow, under Derek's inspired
                    guidance I started two or three promising poems based on
                    sculptures in the gardens." Michael Bartholomew-Biggs,
                    poetry editor of London Grip 
                    "Your exercises were just what were needed to get our
                    creative juices flowing, and the whole day was a delight."
                    Diane Jones 
               
                    Surrealist Poetry workshop (Available
                      as 2.5/3
                        hours or 6 hour) 
                  Do you desire to embrace the surreal? Does your poetry
                  feel a little stale? 
                  Whether you are new to writing poetry or an experienced poet,
                  join us for a fun day that will help release the imagination
                  of your subconscious and thereby revitalise your writing. 
                  This one-day workshop will introduce you to a variety of
                  techniques and strategies useful when writing poems inspired
                  by surrealism.  
                   
                    "It was great fun playing the Surrealist games - and
                    astounding how good some of the results were given the
                    randomness (is that a word?!) of their creation." Hannah
                    Rogers 
                     
                     
                   
                Beginning
                    with a line from...  
                  a look at collaborative writing techniques, and using
                  another writers words to kick start your own creativeness.
                  Useful technique to get you past the dreaded writers block!  
                   "I've never been to a poetry work shop before so didn't
                    know what to expect. Found it very inspiring. The exercises
                    encouraging experimentation were very good, Thank you."
                    Irene Apps 
                 
                Using
                    Myths and Fairy Tale in your poems 
                  We will look at how poets reinvent the universal
                  stories of myth, legend and fairy tale. Using exercises and
                  prompts to  write your own poem exploring these themes. 
                  "Thanks for a great Myths and Fairytales workshop" Fiona
                    Clark . "It was really good. Great planning by Derek Adams"
                    Kaaren Witney. 
                  Click here to read a write-up of this
                    workshop on Sarah Nicholson's blog. 
                 
              Monsters 
                  From Medussa to Myra Hindley, from Frankenstein's creature to
                  Josef Fritzl, Monsters real and imaginary haunt us personally
                  and as a society.  
                Using
                    exercises and prompts to  write your own poem exploring
                    these themes. 
              For
                    Weddings and a Funeral. 
                  If you are a poet then you have probably been asked to write a
                  poem for a wedding, christening or funeral. This workshop
                  looks at ways to make a poem special for those involved but
                  also accessible and interesting to other people at the event
                  without resorting to doggerel. 
              Poetry
                    at Work 
                  This workshop explores how poets have used their experience of
                  work in their writing and will inspire you to write a poem
                  based on your own experience. 
              The
                    Beauty of Haiku 
                  A short introduction to this small but beautiful Japanese
                  poetry form. 
                   
                  The Beauty of the Sonnet 
                  A short introduction to this small but beautiful poetry form. 
                   
                  Introduction to Writing Poetry 
                  A short introduction to poetry and poetry writing, suitable
                  for those that have never written a poem before! 
                   
               
                   
              
                     
                    Presentations on poetry designed for Bookgroups (1 hour) 
                  30 minute presentation of poems by myself and other poets,
                  with comments on poetic conventions (rhyme, form, free verse),
                  followed by 30 minutes Q&A. 
                  Choose from the following subjects:  
                  Memory. 
                  Rivers and canals. 
                  Birds. 
                Communication. 
                
                
               
                
                  
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