February 2nd 2022

Boundary Way Writers at Wolverhampton Literature Festival

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We were delighted that the Boundary Way Writer's Group were able to perform last weekend as part of a Writer's Hub at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival, alongside other local groups from the city. 

Hosted by City of Wolverhampton Council, in its sixth year the festival continues to aim to amplify the voice of authors, poets, writers, storytellers, puppeteers, podcasters, vloggers and publishers across the UK. It is an exciting series of events that celebrates creative communities living in and from the Black Country and further afield. We were so pleased that our group was able to join the following local groups for the Writer's Hub, organised by the Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists:

North East Wolverhampton Writers, Blakenhall Writers, Walsall Writers Circle, Coachhouse Writers, Bridgnorth Writers and Bilston Writers

In 2020, the Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialist's were commissioned to write some Boundary Way inspired poems as part of our 'Postcards from the Plot' project. This project, which aimed to explore allotments, creativity and connections at a time of social distancing and was made possible with emergency funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, then led to Emma Purshouse and Steve Pottinger from the Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialist's running a series of three online writing workshops for the Boundary Way Project. It was at these workshops that the Boundary Way Writer's Group was formed and since then, the group has self maintained monthly meetings on Zoom. The members come together each month for connection in friendly, online meetings and welcome anyone interested in writing poetry that explores nature and green issues. Suitable for all abilities, the sessions provides an opportunity to create and share poetry in a relaxed supportive environment, and it was a delight for the group to premiere their poems at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival.

With many seasoned performers, as well as some new to performing their work, each member of the group took to the stage and performed a series of 2-5 poems that reflected their work since they have joined the group. From mossy furrows and fungi, to climate change and urban landscapes, the group's poems covered a range of important issues focusing around nature connection and the world around us, entertaining the audience and growing in confidence too!

We were delighted that Emma and Steve were able to run a session for the writers in the lead up to the day to provide inspiration about nature and wildlife in the garden, and also a session of top tips for the performance! It was great to see the group come full circle.

One of the highlights of the event, alongside all the fantastic group performances, was to have many of the writers meet for the first time ever! With the group having begun in a time of uncertainty in lockdown, to finally connect in real life with each other was a special moment for the Writer's Group and we hope the first of many. We missed some members, who are as far away as Scotland and South Carolina, but the group looks forward to continuing to meet each month to connect far and wide and share their love for nature inspired poetry.

The Writer's Group are always looking for new members and we would love for you to join us, even just to try out a session! We welcome all abilities and the sessions are free. Our next session is on 21st February 2022 and you can book your place here.