At some point in your life, you will have written a poem. That poem may not have obviously been a poem, it may have been a diary extract, a text message to that ex which brings out the worst in you, but it was a poem nonetheless.
Lancaster’s Living Poets Society is a new society on campus, designed to encourage students to pick up their pens and pencils – or stab at their keyboards – to find themselves in sonnets, free-verse, or even haikus.
The society will be running numerous events fortnightly throughout the year. These events will include poetry prompts, blackout poetry writing sessions and poetry appreciation evenings – of course, accompanied with coffee and maybe even biscuits. The Lancaster’s Living Poets Society also intends to organise several outings to poetry readings and talks with published poets. If creative writing is what you plan to pursue as a career, these events are invaluable in developing your technique and style – not to mention the chance to expose yourself to new poetic forms and inspirations.
Through each of these events, Lancaster Living Poets Society hopes to create a community for those who are curious, passionate or simply bored of fiction to come together to write and read poetry.
Poetry is an incredibly wholesome means of communication that often leads to improvements in our mental health. For some people, poetry is the best way for them to express emotion and endure whatever life decides to throw at them. Consequently, one of the other major purposes of the Lancaster Living Poets Society is to provide a creative outlet for students struggling at university. Whether that’s through the community or through writing, the society hopes to be a safe place for all.
Lancaster Living Poets Society was founded by Creative Writing students so those leading the society know what it feels like to be uninspired and are very passionate about stimulating discourse to prompt new ideas and encourage new writers to flourish. As a result, the society also intends to platform its members’ work on social media, having already feature five poems. This will allow students to either provide praise or criticism intent on improving poems written by fellow members as well as allowing young poet’s work to be published.
The next event organised by the Lancaster Living Poets Society is a poetry prompt and coffee session on the 27th April 2022 @12pm. This event will be held in Barker House Farm and is open to all students with an interest in poetry.
There’s a poet within every single one of us and Lancaster Living Poets Society is a great place to find your voice.
All events organised by the society are free to attend and more information can be found here
