Spilling the Beans

In association with The Elmbridge Literary Festival

Tickets: £10 Ticketsource

Spilling the Beans – is an adventure in crafting poems that sneakily convey the personal and the private.  Sometimes in our writing it can be tricky to drop our guard and be open about our emotions and experience.  But there are ways to tell it slant!  We’ll play with prompts and devices to help catch some of the truths we long to tell. By the end of the workshop, participants will have first drafts for several poems, and will also be given further material and ideas as that can be enjoyed in days to come.  No previous experience in poem writing is necessary – the session is open to anyone who would love to unleash the uninhibited mischief and magic of words.

Katie Griffiths is author of The Attitudes (Nine Arches Press) and the prize-winning My Shrink is Pregnant (Live Canon).  She came second in 2018's National Poetry Competition, and in 2024 won the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize.  Her next book Mindset Mindrise is due from Nine Arches Press in autumn 2026.  She runs workshops and comperes the monthly Live Poetry sessions at Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames.

Where: Claygate Village Hall, Church Rd, Claygate, Esher, Surrey, KT10 0JP