Community Arts Partnership is delighted to invite poets from across Northern Ireland to a special poetry masterclass, designed to help you develop, write and submit a poem to be considered for the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing 2025/2026 and for inclusion in the Poetry in Motion Community Anthology “Endure” 2025/2026.
- Sunday, 8th February, 2026 from 11:00 – 1:00; 2:00 – 4:00
- Sunday, 15th February, 2026 from 11:00 – 1:00; 2:00 – 4:00
In response to feedback received last year there are both morning and afternoon sessions available for the same masterclass. In this way participants can attend all available sessions.
Sunday, 8th of February
10.30am – Registration, tea and coffee
11.00am – 1.00pm Morning sessions
Workshop A: “Responding to Image and Memory” facilitated by Jason Lee Lovell
Workshop B: “Teasing out a Theme” facilitated by Stephanie Conn
1.00pm – Lunch
2.00pm – Workshops A & B repeat and swap rooms
4.00pm Close
Sunday, 15th of February
10.30am Registration, tea and coffee
11.00am – 1.00pm Morning sessions
Workshop C: “Woods to Words: Writing Eco-poetry” facilitated by Emma Must
Workshop D: “The Poetry of Surviving and Thriving” facilitated by Shelley Tracey
1.00 pm – Lunch
2.00pm – Workshops C & D repeat and swap rooms
4.00pm Close
Tea and coffee will be provided during the workshop interval.
Saturday, February 8th:
- Workshop A: “Responding to Image and Memory” facilitated by Jason Lee Lovell
- Workshop B: “Teasing out a Theme” facilitated by Stephanie Conn
Sunday, February 15th
- Workshop C: “Woods to Words: Writing Eco-poetry” facilitated by Emma Must
- Workshop D: “The Poetry of Surviving and Thriving” facilitated by Shelley Tracey
Booking
The cost for each workshop £8.00 (+ booking fee). There 12 places available on each workshop.
Booking Your Workshop(s) Here
Venue
The masterclasses will take place at:
Community Arts Partnership, The Arts Resource Centre, First Floor, 551 – 555 Lisburn Road Belfast BT9 7GQ (Google map link)
Please note that the closing date for submitting poems to the CAP anthology is Friday 27th of February 2026 at 5pm sharp. Please click this link for submission guidelines for “Endure”.
Sunday, 8th of February
Workshop A: “Responding to Image and Memory” facilitated by Jason Lee Lovell*
In this workshop you will explore image and memory via artwork and a series of written prompts. After some time exploring examples of established poet’s work, you will create metaphor through the process of ekphrasis, with a specific focus on paintings by Mark Rothko. Participants will also take time to engage with memory through a range of carefully curated writing prompts. There will be time for writing, reflection and advice on editing your own work.
*Jason Lovell is a secondary school English teacher residing in Co Derry. He is recipient of the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing 2025. He has been awarded the Freedom To Write Award by the John Hewitt Society and Irish PEN. His work has appeared in Abridged, Obsessed with Pipework, Ragaire and Fortnight. He was shortlisted for the Irish Writers Centre’s New Voices: North 25 initiative. He is supported by the Arts Council Northern Ireland.
Workshop B: “Teasing out a Theme” facilitated by Dr. Stephanie Conn*
This workshop will consider the notion of theme – different approaches we, as poets, might take; novel ways in, fresh slants, surprising angles, unexpected turns.
We’ll also consider the pitfalls to watch out for when shaping our ideas and receive editing advice worth keeping in mind when preparing a poem for submission. The workshop will include a range of generative prompts. How might we ensure our words endure?
*Stephanie Conn is a poet, creative writing facilitator, mentor and literacy consultant. She is the author of Copeland’s Daughter (Smith/ Doorstep, 2016), The Woman on the Other Side (2016), Island (2018) and off-kilter (2022) all published by Doire Press. Stephanie’s poetry has won a range of poetry prizes including the inaugural Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing. She is the recipient of multiple awards – most recently a Royal Society of Literature Literacy Matters Award, a writing residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris and an Arts Council of Northern Ireland Major Individual Award.
Sunday, 15th of February
Workshop C: “Woods to Words: Writing Eco-poetry” facilitated by Emma Must*
Writers with any level of experience, or none, are very welcome to join us for this hands-on workshop paying close attention to small natural objects using your senses. You might like to bring with you a leaf, twig, bit of moss, flower, or something similar. (Don’t worry if not, we’ll have a selection available on the day for you to choose from.) We will begin by reading and discussing a couple of contemporary poems about natural objects. Then, focusing on your specimen, you’ll be guided to write by responding to a series of prompts. After shaping and editing your work, with some tips on how to do this, you will have the option of reading out what you’ve written to the group, if you wish.
*Emma Must is a poet living in Belfast since 2011. She has more than a decade’s experience of facilitating creative writing workshops. Formerly a full-time environmental campaigner, she holds a PhD in English (Creative Writing) from Queen’s University Belfast, focusing on eco-poetry. Her debut poetry collection, The Ballad of Yellow Wednesday (Valley Press), was longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2023 and Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes. Her poem ‘Toll’ won the Environmental Defenders Prize at the 2019 Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry and her debut poetry pamphlet, Notes on the Use of the Austrian Scythe, won the Templar Portfolio Award.
Workshop D: “The Poetry of Surviving and Thriving” facilitated by Dr. Shelley Tracey*
This workshop will focus on two connected and contrasting aspects of endurance: simply managing to survive, as opposed to thriving or flourishing. We will explore emblems and depictions of survival and thriving in poems by Mahmoud Darwish, Louise Glück, Mary Oliver and Linda Pastan. We will also consider how form and structure support the themes and meanings of the poems, and how reading and writing poetry can be beneficial in challenging times.
Shelley Tracey’s collection Elements of Distance was published by Lapwing in 2017. Other poems have been published in The North, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Abridged, Honest Ulsterman, Skylight 47, Bangor Literary Journal, North West Words, Bray Arts Journal, Stag Hill Journal, Artemis, The New Ulster, The Haibun Journal, Drifting Sands Haibun, and in many anthologies. Shelley was previously LaVa Coordinator at CAP. She has extensive experience of facilitating creative writing classes. Shelley is a current recipient of a Major Arts Award from the Arts Council NI. Shelley is editing a collection of writing by autistic writers, The NeuroVerse: Autistic Insights and Experiences, to be launched soon.
