The Dance of Poetry - Celebrating Peatlands

This new project is funded by a DYCP grant for individuals from the Arts Council, that I am delighted to have been awarded. I have been working again with Inari Hulkkonen, a dancer, and Lewis Landini, a dance/filmmaker exploring the peatland bogs of Walshaw Moor, in West Yorkshire and two bogs in Southern Finland. The project aims to celebrate peatlands through dance, film and poetry. Walshaw Moor is under threat of development - a large scale wind farm is proposed. The peatland areas we visited in Finland were near National Park, called Tiejo. What beautiful, lowland peat bogs to visit. I fell in love with the areas. West Yorkshire, in contrast, is an upland blanket bog, and many sections of it are in need of restoration. I will post some examples of the work once it is completed.

The Hebden Bridge Launch of this pamphlet took place on the 11th July and was a sellout. Thanks so much to those of you who made it. Such a warm audience, with guests Amanda Dalton and Ian Humphreys reading wonderful new work from their latest residencies and collections. I am looking forward to reading from it at events this autumn, listed above.

Thanks to Hannah Stone for a great review in The Lake Magazine: https://www.thelakepoetry.co.uk/reviews/may24

'As she has gravitated increasingly towards writing prose poetry over lineated verse, Caldwell’s work has become increasingly surreal. Given the sustained quality of her writing, it is no surprise that Neither Here nor There was a James Tate Poetry Prize winner in 2023, a competition established to promote surreal poetry. This slim volume from innovative press SurVision is an engaging read.'

Hannah Stone

Poetry Film from Wainsgate Residency, Summer 2023 with myself, dance/filmmaker Lewis Landini and dancer Inari Hulkkonen

Collaborative Writing Project 2023- 2024

Anne Caldwell and Jennie E. Owen

I am currently working with fellow poet Jennie Owen on a writing project where we share images and poems over Zoom and write in response to each others' words on a monthly basis. We are presenting this work at a number of festivals and conferences this summer in London, Belfast and Leeds, discussing the joys and passion for ekphrasis, collaboration and discussing our work together.

Jennie E. Owen's writing has been widely published in anthologies and journals such as 'Tears in the Fence' and 'Acumen'. She teaches creative writing for the Open University and is a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University focusing on poetry and places of trauma. Her new pamphlet is 'The Horses Still Run' (Flight of the Dragonfly Press, 2024).

Wainsgate Residency, Summer 2023

I had the pleasure of working with dancer Inari Hulkkonen and dancer/filmmaker Lewis Landini on a residency at Wainsgate Chapel in West Yorkshire, exploring the links between poetry, dance and film.

Here is a short sample of my improvised writing in response to the dancers:

The world is off kilter, don’t lose your footing.

Dancing on two legs holds the memory of

When we were sturdy, four legged creatures

Or beings with fins and tails

Swimming in our mother’s mouths

Like little Jonahs, that knew the language of whales.

Anne Caldwell, August 2023