Workshops

The 2023 Belfast Poetry Festival is pleased to present various workshops throughout the festival weekend of Friday, October 13th - Sunday, October 15th.

How to Be a Human Radio with Id M Theft Able and Jefferson Navicky

Workshop Leaders: Id M Theft Able & Jefferson Navicky
Date: Saturday, October 14th, 2023
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Workshop limit: 12 participants
Cost: $25
Belfast Free Library, 106 High Street, Belfast

Are you interested in performance? Would you like help accessing your own inner actor? Have you always been captivated by/terrified of public speaking? Are you someone who wants to bring poetry to the stage? Please join renowned performance and sound artist Id M Theft Able for this rare opportunity. This is an introductory level workshop in performance studies. All are welcome. Come experiment in a safe, fun, creative, and accepting environment.

id m theft able (born 1980 in Portland, Maine) is a composer and performer active within and without the realms of avant-improvisation, noise, sound poetry, sound art and performance art using extended vocal techniques, found objects, homemade instruments, various electronics, and whatever else he might happen to find useful in the moment.

He has given over a thousand performances across 4 continents in settings ranging from the filthiest of basements to the fanciest of festivals and has over 100 album releases (both solo and collaborative) to his name.

Jefferson Navicky (he/him) has taught literature and writing for nearly two decades. He is skillful at creating spaces where people can make authentic connections, take creative risks, share ideas, and have fun. He is the author of four books, including Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose, which won the Maine Literary Award for Poetry.

 

PREREGISTER HERE – HOW TO BE A HUMAN RADIO

 

Collective Grief Workshop: From Root to Seed

Workshop Leaders: Samaa Abdurraqib & Jefferson Navicky
Date: Friday, October 13th, 2023
Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Workshop limit: 12 participants
Cost: $25
Belfast Free Library, 106 High Street, Belfast

This workshop centers our love and grief for the natural world through the anthology From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, & Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast (NatureCulture, 2023, Samaa Abdurraqib ed.) We will discuss a range of poems included in From Root to Seed (copies provided by facilitators), spend time outdoors (weather permitting), and reflect upon and write about our own experiences with loss.

After the prolonged isolation of the pandemic, this workshop aims to bring participants together to remind us that we are not alone. While honoring the sadness that inevitably accompanies grief, we will also invite laughter, tenderness, and transformation. This workshop is open to adults of all ages and backgrounds – no prior writing experience needed.

Sponsored in part by a grant from The American Rescue Plan and The National Endowment for the Arts.

Samaa Abdurraqib (she.her.hers) lives in occupied Wabanaki territory, close to the ocean and the mountains. Recently, her poetry can be found in Enough! Poems of Resistance and Protest, Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic, Cider Press Review, and Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora. She is the editor of From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast.

Jefferson Navicky (he/him) has taught literature and writing for nearly two decades. He is skillful at creating spaces where people can make authentic connections, take creative risks, share ideas, and have fun. He is the author of four books, including Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose, which won the Maine Literary Award for Poetry.

 

PREREGISTER HERE – COLLECTIVE GRIEF: FROM ROOT TO SEED