WORKSHOP: John McCullough - Energising Your Poetry

How can momentum and energy be generated in poems through the use of imagery, phrase-making and original observations?

In this workshop, we'll discuss techniques for evoking, in writing, the speed, sensory overload and information that characterise urban environments, looking at the roles played by features like line length and sentence structure.

Close attention will be paid to a number of poems by Frank O'Hara and Rosemary Tonks (which will be sent out in advance), and John will also go into detail on the compositional and editing processes he uses when creating his own energetic poems which draw on both observation and surreal imagery.

Related writing exercises will encourage you to play with different linguistic registers and to use concrete detail, drawing on what you really do see, hear, smell, taste and touch when exploring urban spaces.

This three-hour workshop is suitable for all poets whether beginners, seasoned professionals and everything in between!

The Book Festival is offering a free bursary place to any local resident, who wishes to attend this workshop, but is struggling financially. To apply for this place, please email info@hastingsbookfestival.org

More about John:

John McCullough lives in Hove. His third book of poems, Reckless Paper Birds, was published with Penned in the Margins and won the 2020 Hawthornden Prize for Literature as well as being shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. John’s previous collections have been Books of the Year for publications including The Guardian and The Independent, and he also won the Polari First Book Prize. His poem ‘Flower of Sulphur’ was shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. His fourth collection, Panic Response, was published in March 2022 by Penned in the Margins.