Poetry

Retrievals and Reimaginings

Monday September 27th - Saturday October 2nd 2021

Totleigh Barton

After a successful virtual edition, Jay Bernard and Fiona Benson are running a live version of this course, which will take into further consideration the material and interactive aspects of writing from archival material. Prepare to delve into the past and re-imagine the future via film, audio-recordings, transcripts, oral histories, photographs, maps, and myths. Participants will be invited to push beyond the lyric ‘I’ into deep reservoirs of story. We will learn how to use a range of techniques, drawing on artists and writers such as Sophie Herxheimer, Glenn Copeland, Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, Tracey K Smith and Marlon Riggs. We will develop our research techniques, consider the sensitivities of telling other people’s stories and consider who has the right to speak for whom.

*We have worked hard to ensure our courses and retreats are as Covid-compliant as possible and can’t wait to welcome you to Lumb Bank. To learn more about the measures we have put in place please click here

Single room price: £815

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Grants are available to help with the course fee

COURSE TUTORS

Tutor

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Jay Bernard

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Jay Bernard (FRSL, FRSA) is a writer and film programmer from London whose work is interdisciplinary, critical, queer and rooted in…

Tutor

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Fiona Benson

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Fiona Benson is the author of the pamphlet Faber New Poets 1 and the collections Bright Travellers…

Guest

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Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa

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Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa is a British born Barbadian raised interdisciplinary neurodiverse poet. Safiya chiefly uses movement to compose her poetry and…

Totleigh Barton

Totleigh Barton, the first ever Arvon centre, is a 16th-century manor house in one of the most peaceful and idyllic parts of Devon.

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THE COURSE AT A GLANCE

Writing course tutor delivering a workshop at Lumb Bank

Monday

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Arrive late afternoon, settle in, enjoy dinner and the tutors’ introduction to the week in the evening.

Tuesday

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Morning workshops led by tutors. Afternoons are your time for writing and one-to-one tutorials. Tutors read from their work in the evening.

Course participants writing at the workshop table at The Hurst

Wednesday

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Morning workshops led by tutors. Afternoons are your time for writing and one-to-one tutorials. In the evening a guest speaker joins the group.

Course participant writing on a sofa in the barn at Lumb Bank

Thursday

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Morning workshops led by tutors. Afternoons are your time for writing and one-to-one tutorials. You are free to spend this evening as you wish.

A woman smiling and listening to a writing tutor speak at Lumb Bank

Friday

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Tutors lead the final workshops in the morning. In the evening everyone gets together to share and celebrate their work.

Saturday

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The week comes to a close after breakfast. Have a tissue handy to say your farewells to the group.

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“I arrived at the beginning of the week wondering whether I might be a writer or even if I could write. But when I left, not only did I feel I could write, I knew that’s what I was going to do next.”

—Piers Torday

“It is invaluable to writers at an early stage to have this feedback on their work. Many people on my course said that they wished that they had received this type of input earlier in their career – that it might have borne fruit and improved their success. It also provides time to think – in an over complicated world it is hard to carve time for yourself against the requirements of work, family, and daily chores. Arvon was a breath of fresh creative air.”

—Penny Clark

“Both courses I attended have had a massive impact on my writing, and been part of the motivation and encouragement I needed to begin working professionally as a writer.”

—Course participant