Scottish Writers' Centre Writing Workshop: Pushing Poetry Beyond Revision

Workshop facilitator and writer Ruby McCann presents this workshop on creating new poetry.

It is often true that as soon as a poem leaves our hands, we immediately begin to read it differently, as if this simple act were a way of stepping out of the self. This notion, coupled with participant led discussions and the gentle push of the workshop facilitator’s guiding hand, is what makes the workshop environment invaluable. If after revision the poem still falls short of where you intuitively know it is leading, though you can’t seem to jump the gap between here and there, this is the workshop for you. It’s time to uncover the possibilities while simultaneously acquiring a few strategies to mix things up, change directions and points-of-view, as the poem that’s been at least partly there all this time comes into focus.

This workshop offers a supportive environment where everyone learns from each other and the processes that shape writing poetry. The emphasis is on the creation of new work for both new and old poems. Participants should expect a short lecture, readings, discussions, and writing exercises. Please bring a notebook or laptop as well as a poem to the session.

Workshop Facilitator, Ruby McCann is a writer and educator. She has managed writing projects in the United States and Scotland. In theatre, she has taken plays ‘from the page to the stage,’ teaching playwriting and drama for Washington, DC area theatres, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre and Young Playwrights Theatre. Ruby was recognised for Educational Excellence by the Senate Education Committee and the SNAP Foundation (Seeing Necessary Alternatives through Photography). She is the 2004 recipient of the Mary Boyle McCrory Award for Creative Writing. As a Literature Consultant for the Cultural Alliance of Northern Virginia, she developed, administered, and judged Arlington County’s Moving Word and Pic-A- Poet Series. After returning to Scotland, Ruby was the Scottish Book Trust’s first Writer-in- Residence at HMP Glenochil and Reader-in- Residence at A.K. Bell Library. Ruby is the current Chair of the Scottish Writers’ Centre.