Anne Lister Poetry Workshops Series 2

If you’ve just discovered Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack), or have known of Ms Lister for years, be inspired to get creative and write. And let’s use the utterly captivating Anne Lister as our inspirational muse.

These workshops are all about celebrating you, and your writing. Whether you’re just putting pen to paper or already published – come along, this workshop is for you.

In today’s workshop we are going to look at Anne and one of her long-term lovers, Isabella Norcliffe (Tib).

It is 1817, one year after Mariana married Charles Lawton. Tib lost Anne to Mariana when she introduced her lover to her best friend. Now that Mariana was married, Tib hoped she would be back as Anne’s Number 1. Let’s get inside the mind of this wealthy heiress who adored, who never stopped loving, Anne Lister. And what of Anne? Passionate and utterly heartbroken, how did she react?

In our Poetic Technique ‘goody bag’ today we have …. ‘Positive/Negative – Flipping Love’. Let’s focus on love, and our vocabulary for love. The positive merging with the negative, the twists the turns, the choices the decisions. We’ll also play with form, and see how using one clever technique gives real insight into the speaker’s state of mind.

Poetry by women writers, as well as extracts from the diaries of Anne Lister, will be used as our resource material. It will be of benefit if you can familiarise yourself with Anne Lister’s diaries and/or the BBC Gentleman Jack TV series.

Fun writing exercises, guided writing, and exploring the technique ‘Positive/Negative – Flipping Love’, will support, develop, and really drive your writing forward.

These engaging and exciting workshops are all about celebrating you, your writing, and Anne Lister. Come along and join in!

• The poetry workshops will be held online via Zoom.
• There are 2 pre-Funded places per workshop. Please contact me in confidence.
• Resources sent prior workshop

As always, any questions at all, just ask.

Anne Lister. A woman who melted many a woman’s heart. And who could resist her? Let’s look at Miss Elizabeth Brown – one of the few who did, as well as the woman herself, Anne Lister.

If you’ve just discovered Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack), or have known of Ms Lister for years, be inspired to get creative and write. And let’s use the utterly captivating Anne Lister as our inspirational muse.

These workshops are all about celebrating you, and your writing. Whether you’re just putting pen to paper or already published – come along, this workshop is for you.

In today’s workshop we are going to look at Miss Elizabeth Brown, a woman who stands out from the crowd. This woman was the focus of Anne’s obsession for over a year. How did she manage to resist? Let’s get inside Miss Brown’s head and see what is going on.

And in our Poetic Technique ‘goody bag’ we have … ‘Crafting imagery and semantic fields’. Let your imagination run riot with visuals and vocabulary choices! We’ll also be playing with semantic fields, and blending them to create unusual, yet surprisingly exact, imagery.

Poetry by women writers, as well as extracts from the diaries of Anne Lister, will be used as our resource material. It will be of benefit if you can familiarise yourself with Anne Lister’s diaries and/or the BBC Gentleman Jack TV series.

Fun writing exercises, guided writing, and exploring the technique of ‘Crafting imagery and semantic fields’, will support, develop, and really drive your writing forward.

These engaging and exciting workshops are all about celebrating you, your writing, and Anne Lister. Come along and join in!

• The poetry workshops will be held online via Zoom.
• There are 2 pre-Funded places per workshop. Please contact me in confidence.
• Resources sent prior workshop

As always, any questions at all, just ask.

Nantz, the eldest of the Belcombe sisters, was 6 years older than the youngest child, the pretty baby of the family, Mariana. If you’ve just discovered Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack), or have known of Ms Lister for years, be inspired to get creative and write. And let’s use the utterly captivating Anne Lister as our inspirational muse.

These workshops are all about celebrating you, and your writing. Whether you’re just putting pen to paper or already published – come along, this workshop is for you.

In today’s workshop we are going to look at Nantz, (Anne Belcombe). Born in 1785, she was 31 when Mariana married, and 35 when she had the second of her brief affairs with Anne Lister. Here was a woman cast aside from society, deemed to be too old for love, destined for life as a spinster. How did she feel about her young sister Mariana, the one who gained attention from absolutely everyone? And Anne Lister – what did she really think of Nantz? Let’s get inside their heads and find out the truth.

And in our Poetic Technique ‘goody bag’ we have… ‘Writing character through clothes’. Subconsciously we all make assumptions about someone through their clothes. Let’s utilise this skill within our writing and subtly reveal details about both Anne and Nantz’s lives, their vulnerability and reveal what they really think.

Poetry by women writers, as well as extracts from the diaries of Anne Lister, will be our resource material. It will be of benefit if you can familiarise yourself with Anne Lister’s diaries and/or the BBC Gentleman Jack TV series.

Fun writing exercises, guided writing, and exploring the technique of ‘Writing character through clothes’ will support, develop, and really drive your writing forward.

These engaging and exciting workshops are all about celebrating you, your writing, and Anne Lister. Come along and join in!

• The poetry workshops will be held online via Zoom.
• 2 pre-Funded places per workshop. Please contact me in confidence.
• Resources sent prior workshop

As always, any questions at all, just ask.

Anne loved with her whole being, and even more so when in extreme emotional turmoil. In 1820, Anne found herself at a House Party with Isabella, Mary Vallance and Nantz. Be ready for a workshop full of passion and eroticism!

If you’ve just discovered Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack), or have known of Ms Lister for years, be inspired to get creative and write. And let’s use the utterly captivating Anne Lister as our inspirational muse.

These workshops are all about celebrating you, and your writing. Whether you’re just putting pen to paper or already published – come along, this workshop is for you.

In the autumn of 1820 Anne is in tumult, despair, and full of extreme emotion. She cannot get past the fact that Mariana chose gold over her. Anne, above all else, is completely heartbroken. On 5th October Anne went to stay at Langton Hall. She was joining Mary Vallance ( a friend of Isabella) to help console Isabella over the death of her father.In today’s workshop, we are going to look at Anne’s relationship with Mary Vallance.

And in our Poetic Technique ‘goody bag’ today, we have… ‘Line endings’. Where do we end our line and to what effect? Do we want to surprise, or halt, the reader? Or have them run with us? Let’s make our line endings effective and awesome!

Poetry by women writers, as well as extracts from the diaries of Anne Lister, will be used as our resource material. It will be of benefit if you can familiarise yourself with Anne Lister’s diaries and/or the BBC Gentleman Jack TV series.

Fun writing exercises, guided writing, and exploring the technique of ‘Line Endings’, will support, develop, and really drive your writing forward.

These engaging and exciting workshops are all about celebrating you, your writing, and Anne Lister. Come along and join in!

• The poetry workshops will be held online via Zoom.
• 2 pre-Funded places per workshop. Please contact me in confidence.
• Resources sent prior workshop

As always, any questions at all, just ask.

Sometimes we all need to get away, have a change of scene. And Anne was keen to do more travelling. In July 1822 she set off (with Aunt Ann) to meet fellow lesbians, Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, The Ladies of Llangollen. What happened, who said what, and how did Anne feel?

If you’ve just discovered Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack), or have known of Ms Lister for years, be inspired to get creative and write. And let’s use the utterly captivating Anne Lister as our inspirational muse.

These workshops are all about celebrating you, and your writing. Whether you’re just putting pen to paper or already published – come along, this workshop is for you.

In June 1822 Uncle James made Anne Lister heir to Shibden Hall. Once business was settled, Anne decided to feed her need for travel and to visit The Ladies of Llangollen. She had read about them in a newspaper in 1810, ‘ & longed to see the place ever since.’

Let’s use this visit, and Anne’s thoughts about The Ladies of Llangollen, to stimulate some amazing writing. Who were these two women who were a magnet for visitors, including Wordsworth? And what did Anne think about these fellow lesbians? Was she open with them? Were they with her?

And in today’s Poetic Technique ‘goody bag’ we have… ‘Editing’. In the words of Emily Dickenson, poetry should ‘ Tell the truth, but tell it with a slant’ . But how do we do this effectively? How do we decide between Taste and Judgement? How do we make critical enquiry into our own work? Bring along a poem to edit, or edit the one you’ve created in this workshop.

Poetry by women writers, as well as extracts from the diaries of Anne Lister, will be used as our resource material. It will be of benefit if you can familiarise yourself with Anne Lister’s diaries and/or the BBC Gentleman Jack TV series.

Fun writing exercises, guided writing, and exploring the valuable technique of ‘Editing’, will support, develop, and really drive your writing forward.

These engaging and exciting workshops are all about celebrating you, your writing, and Anne Lister. Come along and join in!

• The poetry workshops will be held online via Zoom.
• There are 2 pre-Funded places per workshop. Please contact me in confidence.
• Resources sent prior workshop

As always, any questions at all, just ask.

Highly intelligent and with a constant thirst for knowledge, Anne loved to travel. She set off for Paris in 1824 to explore the city and improve her French. Alas, her French did not greatly improve, but she did improve her love life. Let’s meet Mrs Maria Barlow. Oh la la …

If you’ve just discovered Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack), or have known of Ms Lister for years, be inspired to get creative and write. And let’s use the utterly captivating Anne Lister as our inspirational muse.

These workshops are all about celebrating you, and your writing. Whether you’re just putting pen to paper or already published – come along, this workshop is for you.

In today’s workshop we are off to Paris! Anne lodged in Mme de Boyve’s pension, Paris. Also there was Mrs Maria Barlow, widow. And although often the centre of Anne’s attention, Maria resisted Anne – until that is, they rented an apartment together.

In tonight’s Poetic Technique ‘goody bag’ we have… ‘Surprises in poetry.’ How do we create surprise in our poetry? Let’s surprise our readers so they’re captivated, engaged and on the edge of their seats!

Poetry by women writers, as well as extracts from the diaries of Anne Lister, will be used as our resource material. It will be of benefit if you can familiarise yourself with Anne Lister’s diaries and/or the BBC Gentleman Jack TV series.

Fun writing exercises, guided writing, and exploring the technique of ‘Surprises in poetry’, will support, develop, and really drive your writing forward.

These engaging and exciting workshops are all about celebrating you, your writing, and Anne Lister. Come along and join in!

• The poetry workshops will be held online via Zoom.
• 2 pre-Funded places per workshop. Please contact me in confidence.
• Resources sent prior workshop

As always, any questions at all, just ask.