Open Workshop: ‘Freedom in Confinement’ with Remi Graves

Used in its modern context, confinement refers to a state of being limited or constricted. It’s rarer, and older definition however relates to ‘the condition of being in childbirth”. This clash of meanings will be the source of this workshop as we explore ways in which the restrictive elements of our lived experiences, our identities and our histories, can also give birth to new forms of creativity and expression.

On this Open Workshop (they’re back!) we’ll look at contemporary poetry from writers like Yesenia Montilla, Ocean Vuong and Danez Smith that grapples with the overlapping worlds of literal and conceptual confinement, where the landscapes of queer identities, migrant identities and more collide to provide new ways to discuss selfhood. This workshop is for anyone that wants to use poetry to explore the freedoms hidden in the identities they feel confined by.

Title: ‘Freedom in Confinement’

START DATE: Monday 5 June 2017

DEADLINE: Monday 12 June 2017, 12noon

LIVE CHAT: Monday 19 June 2017, 7-9pm GMT

To book your free place, please email [email protected]

Note: places are given on a first-come first-served basis, but priority may be given to first-time students.

Remi Graves is a poet and drummer based in London. As a member of Roundhouse’s Poetry Collective she has performed at festivals including Lovebox and Bestival. Her work, always rooted in the simplicity of daily events grapples with the slippery idea of identity, and aims to propose alternatives to the oppressive narratives surrounding selfhood and value offered by the status quo. Remi is also one half of Gertrude and Jemima, a poetry and music duo with South African poet Toni Stuart.

Open Workshops runs a free writing workshop every month, open to all CAMPUS members, ranging from practical exercises, technical masterclasses, to new and experimental approaches to making poetry. Email [email protected] for more information.