Apples and Snakes presents Red Sky Sessions, our skills development programme for emerging writers aged 18 to infinity.
Welcome to the first Red Sky Session of 2023.
Over the course of five workshops, participants will explore themes and techniques to improve their writing, develop their craft and hone their skills through a series of workshops and talks from some of the country’s leading poets and facilitators.
This FREE programme is designed to accommodate emerging writers who have been unable to apply for other programs due to their age. To apply, follow the registration link below – it’ll take you to a form where you’ll be asked some basic details we need from you. You will be sent the Zoom link for classes closer to the start of the course.
The sign up form is at the bottom of this page.
There is no upper age limit for Red Sky Sessions.
Tutors and Workshop Guests
Deanna Rodger – Tutor
Deanna won the UK Poetry Slam at age 18. Since then she has pushed down closed doors and held them open for others, curating spoken word events, facilitating workshops, writing prolific commissions, and mentoring. Most recently, her reimagined version of ‘If’ was read by Serena Williams. As a poet she has worked in countries across five continents and has been commissioned by numerous brands and organisations including; FIFA, St Paul’s Cathedral, Nationwide, Keats’ House Museum, Young Vic, Adidas, and BBC. She designs and delivers educational programs, and tutors at the School of Communication Arts. She has two publications. ‘I Did It Too’ celebrating a decade of work, (Burning Eye Books). and his fingers have left a process and poetry collection of five form poems responding to Kevin Elyot’s archive in the Bristol University’s Theatre Collection (also Burning Eye Books).
Joining her each week will be:
Vanessa Kisuule
Winner of over 10 slam titles and crowned Bristol City Poet 2018-20, Vanessa Kisuule has performed her work internationally. In 2019, her one woman show, SEXY, toured to great acclaim. She has two full collections, Joyriding The Storm and A Recipe For Sorcery (Burning Eye Books) and was Highly Commended in The Forward Prize Anthology 2019
Nikita Gill
Nikita Gill is a British-Indian poet, playwright, writer and illustrator based in the south of England. She has written and curated seven volumes of poetry. She uses social media to engage her audience and she has over 650,000 followers on Instagram, one of the most popular poets on the platform.
Laurie Bolger
Laurie Bolger is a London based Writer. Her work has featured at Glastonbury Festival, the Royal Albert Hall, TATE, Sky Arts & BBC platforms. Laurie has been running creative workshops for the past decade & is founder of The Creative Writing Breakfast Club bringing people to write together every Sunday morning 10am via Zoom. Laurie has written for major brands, charities and visual artists. She is currently working on her second book Call Me Lady a collection of poems celebrating autonomy, love and her working class Irish heritage.
Beth Calverley
Beth Calverley is a poet, creative coach and founder of The Poetry Machine. Her poetry lives and breathes, holding your hand through crisp emotional landscapes. Beth co-creates poems with people via her supportive practice, The Poetry Machine. She collaborates with places of work, learning, care and play, helping people to express what matters to them most.
Dates
We would like participants to commit to attending every workshop, although we do understand sometimes life gets in the way. If this happens, then not a problem! But please attend as many sessions as you can.
The dates for this term’s workshops (guest tutors to be announced shortly):
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Session 1 Wed 29 March 2023: Vanessa Kisuule – Let’s Go!
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Session 2 Wed 5 April 2023: Nikita Gill – Building Your Practice
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Session 3 Wed 12 April 2023: Laurie Bolger – Setting up Shop
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Session 4 Wed 19 April 2023: Beth Calverly – Poetry People
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Session 5 Wed 26 April 203. : TBC – mystery session
All sessions will run from 6:30 – 8.30pm online using Zoom.
Please note: the Zoom link states it’s a 6pm start but that’s for the tutors to arrive a little early and prep for you. It’s not a 6pm start for you! So please don’t email us asking when it starts, the class definitely starts at 6.30pm so we’ll see you then. If you join do join early, we will keep you in the waiting room and then will be let in at 6.30pm.
Post-event recordings: if you have signed up for the event, we will be releasing the recordings of the sessions which you will have access to after the entire season has finished. These will be available from the end of April.
How to register your place
- Sign up using this form.
- When you sign up, you will receive the Zoom link to the sessions. You will also be emailed this link. Keep this link (think Gandolf ‘keep it secret, keep it safe’) as you will need to access all the sessions.
- If you genuinely cannot find the link, then do get in touch at [email protected].
Sessions are recorded and will be sent to you as a private YouTube link AFTER the programme has ended. We will notify you when they are ready.