Book Worms: Bringing Creative Writing to Newham’s Green Spaces
From "Forest Gate & Maryland Community Assemblies 2022"
Go to the project
‘Book Worms’ addresses two priorities ‘Nature and Biodiversity’ and ‘Public Spaces and Buildings’.
The project will deliver three community-led, intergenerational, creative writing workshops in green spaces important to the Forest Gate and Maryland Community Neighbourhood: the garden at Kay Rowe Nursery School and Children’s Centre; the Forest Gate Community Garden; and the park adjoining the Forest Lane Lodge Community Centre.
The project has three aims:
1. To unearth, grow and sustain connections between Newham’s creative writers, educators and nature lovers.
2. To empower a team of volunteers (“Planters”) in the delivery of ecologically aware, locally oriented creative writing workshops.
3. To cultivate intergenerational friendship through creative writing, gardening, appreciation of biodiversity, and the sharing of stories on shared land
Setting off from Kay Rowe, going via the Forest Gate Community Garden, and arriving at Forest Lane Park, the project will culminate in a family-friendly nature walk to share the poems, stories and banners made in the workshops.
I am a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, a member of The Environmental Humanities Research Group, and a Forest Gate resident. In initiating this project I'm hoping to share my expertise but also connect, collaborate and learn from others.
