Discover the power of images in storytelling at Essex’s new workshop series

A new series of creative writing workshops is launching at the University of Essex, offering the opportunity to explore using visual arts techniques in fiction and non-fiction writing, while also taking inspiration from unique materials in the Special Collections at the University’s Albert Sloman Library.

Led by Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies Visiting Fellow and Wivenhoe-based author Dr Penny Simpson, the Writing with Images workshops will be run by writers and artists who specialise in bringing together text, images and archival sources to create work that fills the gaps of a life lived – real or imagined.

Dr Penny Simpson said, “As a creative writer and researcher, I have often drawn on the archives in the Special Collections at the University of Essex for inspiration for my writing. These workshops are an opportunity for members of the public to find out just how much of a treasure trove the archives are, and to get hands-on experience of different creative activities which researchers like me use to re-imagine the past.”

The Writing with Images workshops have been inspired by Essex research into the extraordinary life and work of Polish writer and poet Sophie Gaudier-Brzeska (1872-1925). Part of Sophie’s archive is held in the Special Collections at the University, including literary works, notebooks and her 800-page diary which takes the form of an extended imagined conversation with her partner, the artist Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1925), who was killed in action fighting in the First World War.

Penny will be co-facilitating the workshops with poet and textile artist Carole Webster and Ania Ready, a Polish-British author and photo-artist whose acclaimed literary photo-book I Also Fight Windmills re-imagines Sophie’s life through black and white photographic reconstructions alongside extracts from her writing. They will guide participants through a series of playful experiments with text and image drawing on a range of techniques, from Polaroid photography to collage.

The workshops are free and open to writers of all levels (16+). There is no need to book, just turn up or email pcsimp@essex.ac.uk with the dates of the workshops you would like to attend.

Date and venues

Saturday 25 April (2:00-4:15) Archive, Text & Image

Room 1.01 Causeway Teaching Centre, University of Essex, Colchester

Fiction writer Penny Simpson and photo-artist Ania Ready explore how a writer brings together archival sources, text and image. There will also be a visit to the library to view a specially curated exhibition of items from Sophie’s archive.

Saturday 9 May (2:00-4:00) Geography of Echoes

Room 1.01 Causeway Teaching Centre, University of Essex, Colchester

Join fiction writer Penny Simpson and poet/textile artist Carole Website in a workshop inspired by Sophie Gaudier-Brzeska’s migratory life. In this workshop, participants will explore writing about place and character.

Saturday 20 June (2:00-4:00) Regrowing roots

Room 1.02, Northern Teaching Centre, University of Essex, Colchester

Fiction writer Penny Simpson and photo-artist Ania Ready will guide participants to develop ways of writing about characters whose lives are not fixed in one place. This workshop will take inspiration from Sophie Gauder-Brzeska’s poetry and short story writing.