Poet Ash Dickinson Runs workshop for Year 9
21st October 24
Poet and slam champion winner Ash Dickinson has visited Dunottar School to run a creative writing poetry workshop for Year 9.
The workshop was the culmination of the year group’s study of war and conflict poetry. The pupils had previously studied Ash’s poem ‘Call It Duty’, which he talked about and read to the pupils. Ash also presented a range of hands-on activities to encourage the pupils to experiment with rhyme, structural features and poetic forms. At the end, there was a lively Q&A session in which the year group quizzed him about his career as a poet.
Year 9 pupil Jayden said: “I think the best thing was how he gave us three syllables to make a poem. It gave me more ideas about how to write a poem, and I felt helped me quite a lot.”
“I liked it when he was reading his poetry out,” added Lily.
At the end of the session, Ash commented: “I had another terrific visit; this is my fourth in a row. Years 9 were receptive, very welcoming, great fun. I was a little worried about how this would go – last session on a Friday, just before they were about to break up for two whole weeks. They could have been mentally beyond the beach, but they weren’t. They produced some lovely poems and were more than willing to share than Year 9 students usually are. It’s been a pleasure!”
A full-time poet, Dickinson is also a multiple slam champion who has performed in Australia, Canada, USA, Spain, Jordan, the Czech Republic and Germany. He has headlined countless shows and festivals throughout the UK. He is in great demand to run writing workshops in schools, galleries, museums and with writing groups across the country.
Dickinson’s debut collection, Slinky Espadrilles was the very first title published by Burning Eye Books. His second major collection, Strange Keys out in 2016. A collection for younger years, Show Cats In Transit, came out in 2019. His latest collection Instructions for Outlaws was published in 2022.
