It’s just a month now till the fantastic Womens Liberation Movement @ 40 Conference, to be held at the location of the first ever WLM Conference in the UK, Ruskin College. There’s a video of the 1970 conference on youtube.
The draft programme is available now, and as well as the opportunity to hear Sheila Rowbotham‘s opening keynote, I’m looking forward to the Feminist Art papers.
Between now and then, I’ll be finalising activities for the creative writing workshop I’m leading on the Saturday afternoon:
“A room of one’s own”: finding inspiration in Feminist collections
WLM activists write for many different reasons: for self-expression; as an art-form; to raise awareness of the cause. Whatever your reason(s) for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), this workshop explores ways of using feminist library and archive collections to find fresh ways into writing. We’ll use pictures and writings by other feminist writers, and even our own vocabulary as jumping off points for poetry, fiction or prose.
It’s a brilliant opportunity to highlight the wonderful collections held by the Feminist Library, Women’s Library and other feminist collections and to use the writing techniques I’ve used in Essex Poetry Festival workshops but with a decided feminist slant.So watch this space for links to inspiring collections, writers and photographers.
Behind every great writer is an even greater library.
