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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.