Through a poet's eyes: Dunedin, City of Literature

Three days of inspirational fieldwork followed by a two-day poetry workshop, based on campus

Dunedin has long been an inspiring city for writers. This course will nurture your muse and exercise your writing muscles, combining workshop sessions with inspirational fieldwork. Using poetry as our guide, we’ll spend three days physically exploring Dunedin’s literary history. We’ll write poems of our own in response to the landscape, architecture, climate and culture. Poets we’ll trace as we move around the city include:

• Charles Brasch
• Ruth Dallas
• Janet Frame
• Hone Tuwhare
• Cilla McQueen
• Vincent O’Sullivan
• David Eggleton
• Emma Neale
• Rhian Gallagher
• Sue Wootton
• Fiona Farrell

Who should attend?

This creative course is suitable for anyone interested in practicing the art of writing poetry. The combination of fieldtrips and workshop time will nourish your creativity and hone your craft, whatever your level of experience.

The course involves walking on some days, so a moderate level of fitness is required.

Presenter

Sue Wootton

Sue is an award-winning Dunedin writer. Her poetry and fiction have been widely published, anthologised, and translated. Her books include:

• Hourglass, Magnetic South, and By Birdlight (poetry)
• Cloudcatcher (children’s fiction)
• The Happiest Music on Earth (short stories)

Her most recent publications are Strip (a novel), and The Yield (poetry) – both of which were recognised in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Sue has a master’s in creative writing (with distinction), and held the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 2008.

Sue lives in Dunedin where she is an editor, reviewer, and creative writing tutor.

Times

10am–4pm daily (lunch break 12:30pm–1:30pm)

• Monday, Tuesday: short excursion and writing
• Wednesday: Full-day trip to Port Chalmers and Aramoana
• Thursday, Friday: Writing workshop

Enrolment limit

• 20

Payment details

• Online banking: Account Number 03-0175-0660238-00. Please use your name and course code POET19 as the reference.
• Eftpos / credit card: Available at the AskOtago desk (Central Library Building, Albany Street).
• Cheque: Make cheques payable to the University of Otago and send with your name and course code to Continuing Education, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054.

Save this event

• Google Calendar
• Yahoo Calendar
• iCalendar