Life in Colour Studio
Observe life’s full spectrum in your poetry as we write through the lens of colour.
If, as cultural critic Kassia St.Clair tells us ‘Colours, […] should be understood as subjective cultural creations’, what of our own culture(s) can we bring to our poetry by approaching it through our personal understandings of colour? How can we use colour to tap into the personal and collective unconscious?
From the ‘wine-dark sea’ of Homer’s Odyssey to contemporary poets like Mary Ruefle, Ann Carson, Ama Codjoe, Rae Armantrout, Dorothea Lasky, Tracy K. Smith, Safiya Sinclair, and Maggie Nelson, poets have used an obsession with colour to unlock visions of the world that are both intimate and politically charged. Throughout the course, we’ll explore work by these poets and more to interrogate the full spectrum of experience through the lens of colour.
Studios are 4-week intensive courses. Reading material will be distributed before the course begins. There are no live chats so they are suitable for both UK & International students.
Concessions & Accessibility
To apply for a concessionary rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]; conditions of eligibility are detailed here. If you have any questions, wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, or require any form of adjustment to access our courses, please email [email protected]. For more information visit our Online Courses page.
Image credit: @scottwebb
About Jessica Traynor 
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Jessica Traynor is a poet, and poetry editor at Banshee. Her debut, Liffey Swim (Dedalus Press, 2014), was shortlisted for the Strong/Shine Award. The Quick (Dedalus Press, 2018) was an Irish Times book of the year. Pit Lullabies (Bloodaxe, 2022) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and a Guardian Best Summer Read of 2022. It was shortlisted for the Yeats Society Sligo/ Irish Independent Poetry Prize. Poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Poetry Review, The Guardian, Poetry London, bath magg, Bad Lilies, New England Review, TriQuarterly Review, CopperNickel, The Stinging Fly and Poems on the Underground. She was the 2023 recipient of the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry from the University of St Thomas, Minnesota. She was 2023 Arts Council Writer in Residence in Galway University, a judge for the 2023 Forward Prizes, and is a critic for The Irish Times. A new collection is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in 2025.
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