Name: Masterclass D: "The Poetry of Surviving and Thriving" - with Shelley Tracey
Start: 2026-02-15T11:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-15T15:00:00+00:00
Location: The ARC (Arts Resource Centre)

Masterclass D: "The Poetry of Surviving and Thriving" - with Shelley Tracey

The workshop will focus on 2 connected and contrasting aspects of endurance: simply managing to survive, opposed to thriving or flourishing.
About this Event

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.