Creative Writing - Poetry
This is a practical, interactive workshop about creative writing from a poet's perspective. No matter what type of creative writing you may be interested in, poetry and the poetical devices can be a part of the process.
Learn how to make an average piece of writing a great piece of writing; how to say things with simplicity, power and beauty; and how to create words that people want to listen to again and again! All this within a context of being open to God in your creative process.
Poetry takes the inside world and lets it bleed on your sleeve. It holds up a kaleidoscope to your eye and tells you to see the world anew. If you want to see how your words can change yourself and our society then come along with pen in hand For people who love to scribble random reflections in their journals but would never call themselves a " writer" and for those who simply live for words, this elective stream will help you move forward in your writing/poetry wherever you are at. Come and let the words flow onto the page and then maybe even off the page and onto the stage. Poetry as you have never experienced it before.
Joel McKerrow (www.joelmckerrow.com) is a performance poet, writer, educator, youth worker, thinker and activist based out of Melbourne, Australia. He was a feature poet on the Global Poetics 2011 tour of Australia alongside Ken Arkind, Mahogany Brown and Jive Poetic and in 2010 placed second in the finals of the Melbourne Poetry Festival Slam and was a Victorian state finalist for the Australian Poetry slam. His words can also be found on the pages of his first book release, Beyond Rhetoric – Writings in the Tradition of Kahlil Gibran, currently available in its second edition.
With a passionate performance style he has been commended by Canadian performance poet Virtuoso, Shane Koyczan as, ‘an exceptional spoken word artist..fiercely political and humane’. He is the founder of ‘The Centre for Poetics and Justice', a not-for-profit organisation focussed on using poetics as a form of literary education, self-expression and social engagement for marginalised teenagers (www.cpj.org.au). Through his work with CPJ he facilitates a great number spoken word workshops all over Melbourne.
Vocationally, he has been an educator for the last five years and is currently on Faculty at Tabor College Victoria, where he lectures in youth work and runs, 'Year in the Son', a transitional year for school leavers. He has a B.A. (Psych), B.Th. (Theology), Cert. IV TAA (Training and Assessment) and M.A. (Vocational Practice). He has been a youth worker for the last 10 years, working with marginalised teenagers in a broad range of organisations in both New South Wales and Victoria. He is passionate about discovering a new way to live outside the system of the Empire of Greed and spends much of his time trying to match his actions with this belief.
