Identities and nature with Oakley Flanagan and Courtney Conrad

Join a co-facilitated workshop on nature poetry, sexuality and race with Oakley Flanagan and Courtney Conrad. These writing exercises will generate new nature poems. Participants who attend this workshop will have the opportunity to read the poems they’ve created to a live audience.

Time: 10 - 11am

Address: The Music Room, Deptford Lounge, 9 Giffin Square, London, SE8 4RJ

Oakley Flanagan will be reading from G&T, forthcoming with Out-Spoken Press. Courtney Conrad (Eric Gregory Winner) will read work inspired by themes of food, Caribbean migration and nature. Cecilia Knapp will be reading from Peach Pig. They will be joined by workshop participants sharing new work created earlier in the day.

Time: 11.30am - 12.30pm

Address: The Studio, Deptford Lounge, 9 Giffin Square, London, SE8 4RJ

* You are welcome to book a ticket for both or either events.

Oakley Flanagan is a writer and poet from the West Midlands, by way of Ireland. As a playwright: ‘This Queer House’, VAULT Festival, directed by Masha Kevinovna, produced by OPIA Collective. They have received development as a playwright from Birmingham REP, National Theatre and The Royal Court. Their poetry appears in bath magg, Poetry London, Poetry Review, The North, Under the Radar and Wasafiri, as well as anthologised work for 3 of Cups Press, Hachette UK, Trapeze and Verve Poetry Press.

Oakley is an alum of Roundhouse Poetry Collective and The London Library Emerging Writer Programme. They are a current member of The Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers' Programme and Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective. They are a winner of the ruth weiss Emerging Poet Award 2022. Oakley’s pamphlet is forthcoming with Out-Spoken Press.

Courtney Conrad is a Jamaican poet. She is an Eric Gregory Award winner, Bridport Prize Young Writers Award recipient and has been shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize, Manchester Poetry Prize and Oxford Brookes International Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in Magma Poetry, Poetry Wales, The White Review, Stand Magazine, Bath Magg and Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal. Her work has been anthologised by Anamot Press, Re.creation, Peekash Press, Bad Betty Press and Flipped Eye Press. She is an alumna of The London Library Emerging Writers Programme, Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, Barbican Young Poets, Obsidian Foundation and Roundhouse Poetry Collective.

Cecilia Knapp is a poet, playwright and novelist and the Young People’s Laureate for London 2020/2021. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward prize for best single poem. She is the winner of the 2021 Ruth Rendell award and has been shortlisted for both the Rebecca Swift Women’s prize and the Outspoken poetry prize. Her debut poetry collection Peach Pig was published by Corsair in 2022 and was the Observer’s poetry book of the month for October. Her poems have appeared in The Financial Times, Granta, The White Review, Wasafiri, Popshot, Ambit, Magma and bath magg and anthologised. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When you Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021. Her debut novel Little Boxes is published by The Borough Press (Harper Collins.)

In 2021 she curated and presented the BBC radio 4 documentary Powerlines; poetry of the coast. She has shared her writing extensively at poetry events in the UK and internationally with residencies and readings in Paris, Switzerland and Johannesburg and performances including Reading Festival, Shambala, Latitude and the Cheltenham Literature festival where she was guest curator in 2015. She’s a former resident artist at The Roundhouse and a Ted X speaker.

She writes a regular column for Mslexia magazine. She was featured in British Vogue as one of the UK's young writers to watch.

Her theatre pieces Finding Home and Losing the Night both opened to sell out London runs at The Roundhouse before touring the UK. She has written text for large scale theatre productions for Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022 and IOU theatre. She is committing to raising the visibility of poetry and its many benefits. She is an ambassador for the mental health charity CALM.

• All Deptford Literature Festival events including this one are BSL interpreted.

• This event is wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilets.

• A quiet space is available during the day at Deptford Lounge, in the Music Room, on the first floor.

• Deptford Lounge has Changing Place facilities, an induction loop and assistance dogs are welcome. For more information: deptfordlounge.org.uk/access

• If you require additional access provision in order to attend or take part in the Festival, for example larger print handouts at workshops, or a Scribe, please get in touch before the Festival day at: [email protected]

• If you require assistance on the Festival day itself, please come to the Festival Hub in the foyer of Deptford Lounge where we will be happy to help you.

• For more information, please read the Deptford Literature Festival Access Policy: spreadtheword.org.uk/deptford-literature-festival-2023-access-policy/

• We encourage anyone displaying Covid-like symptoms not to attend the Festival and we encourage attendees aged 16+ (unless exempt) to consider wearing a mask as some of our artists and audiences may be vulnerable.

• Masks will be available at the Festival Hub in Deptford Lounge. There will be hand sanitiser and air filters for events and workshops in the following spaces at Deptford Lounge: Main Hall, Room 1, Room 2, Room 3 and the Studio.

• You can see the full Deptford Literature Festival COVID-19 protocols here: spreadtheword.org.uk/deptford-literature-festival-covid-19-protocols/

• This event is free to you, and we ask that as far as possible by booking a place you commit to attending, as places are limited. If you can no longer attend, please cancel your ticket so someone else can come along. There are instructions on how to do that here.

• If you would like to support the future of Deptford Literature Festival, run by charity Spread the Word, you can donate here: totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/deptfordlitfest

Deptford Literature Festival takes place on Saturday 18 March 2023 and celebrates the diversity and creativity of Deptford and Lewisham through words, stories and performance. It is run by Spread the Word, and funded by Arts Council England. You can find out more about Deptford Literature Festival at: www.deptfordlitfest.com

Image at the top of the page description: The event image has a light teal green background with black text reading ‘DEPTFORD LITERATURE FESTIVAL’ in a bold font at the top left corner. There are pink and yellow graphics, including a cloud and a fruit bowl, decorating the photo. In the centre are three circular images in a row of the event speakers. The left circular photo is of writer Oakley Flanagan. They are looking into the distance, with a neon green light falling on the right half of their face. They have short dark blonde hair and wear a white and black pinstripe shirt. The background behind them is pale green. The middle photo is of poet Courtney Conrad who looks forward smiling widely. She leans to the side and rests her face on her arm, and she’s wearing a white t-shirt. The photo is in black and white. The photo on the right is of poet Cecilia Knapp, who looks forward. She has dark hair parted at the middle, wears hooped earrings, and a white t-shirt. Behind her the background is grey. At the bottom right of the photo is a text description of the event reads Identities and Nature Workshop & Reading with Oakley Flanagan, Courtney Conrad and Cecilia Knapp Saturday 18 March 2023 10.00am-12.30pm @ Deptford Lounge.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Deptford Lounge, 9 Giffin Street, London, United Kingdom