The theme for this years Open the Door women’s writing festival is writers who are artists and artists who are writers. These online workshops all explore this relationship between writing and art in different ways, as well as drawing inspiration from the three historical writers we are spotlighting: Zarina Hashmi, Edith Simon and Wendy Wood. To book your free place, please click on the links below.
Stitches and Stories Workshop
Thursday 20th May, 2pm to 3.30pm
Have you always wanted to write creatively but not known where to start? Or perhaps you have plenty of ideas, but aren’t sure how to shape them into stories or poems? In this beginner-friendly creative writing workshop, led by Heather Richardson, we’ll take inspiration from our knitting pattern collection to learn about creating memorable characters and developing stories.
You can book your free place here.
Absence/Presence
Thursday 20th May, 6.30pm to 8pm
Led by artist Sekai Machache and hosted with Rhubaba Gallery and Studios this discussion-based workshop will include written exercises that focus on rewriting and reimagining archives. Presented virtually by Rhubaba, this workshop is part of their ongoing project on Maud Sulter which will feature a publication, exhibition, and public programme of events.
Maud Sulter was an artist, writer and curator born in Glasgow. In this workshop, we’ll learn more about Maud Sulter and her work. We’ll look together at books and feminist magazines from GWL’s library and archive that highlight some of the important Black feminist and lesbian projects Maud was involved with from the 1980s and get creative with exercises that focus on rewriting and reimaging archives.
You can book your free place here.
Concrete Poetry Workshop
Friday 21st May, 2pm to 3.30pm
Join Eloise Birtwhistle in a creative exploration of women’s contributions to concrete poetry. Concrete poetry is playful, experimental poetry in which the spacing and design of words on a page plays a large part in the meaning and effect of the poem. In this workshop we will take part in activities inspired by the work of several women concrete poets – no previous experience of concrete poetry required!
We’ll think about the intersection between writing and visual art through techniques such as type-writer patterns and asemic writing, which is writing without words! Along the way, we will also learn about notable women concrete poets, the historical contexts in which they were writing, and the inherent feminism of their practices. This workshop is open to all genders and no prior experience or knowledge of concrete poetry is required. To get involved, all you need is a few pages of plain paper and a pencil.
You can book your free place here.
