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Gwanwyn festival
Published: 24/04/2014
Poetry will be the focus for Flintshire as the County takes part in a
nationwide celebration of creativity in older age.
The Gwanwyn Festival is a month long series of events held across Wales during
May offering opportunities for greater participation by older people in the
arts.
During the festival Flintshire over 50s will be exploring the world of poetry
with community poet, Sophie McKeand at three creative writing workshops in
Holywell Library.
They will wing their way through the poetry of Wallace Stevens, Gwyneth Lewis
and WB Yeats to take a look at how birds transform our perspective of the
world. There will be writing exercises to create a poem or poetic prose and
they will be the chance to practice techniques for reading poetry aloud to an
audience although it’s not compulsory. The writers will craft and edit at least
one poem each for public display at Holywell Library, with an accompanying
reading event.
Councillor Chris Bithell, Cabinet Member for Education said:
“This is a brilliant opportunity for older people to get involved in the arts
and take the chance to experience something they may not have done before. The
poetry workshops will explore some diverse writers from America, Ireland and
Wales and should offer some interesting insights into creating poems and
performing in front of an audience.”
The workshops promise to be great fun for people who have always wanted to try
writing poetry. To confirm the dates in May and to book one of the 12 available
places contact Beth Ditson, Community Events Officer, Arts, Culture and Events
Section, Flintshire County Council on 07866 523 601 or email
beth.ditson@flintshire.gov.uk.