Creative Encounters: Poetry and Ink

Astra Papachristodoulou leads a workshop on visual poetry at The Clore Ballroom on Wednesday 21 October, part of the London Literature Festival. It's a creative session where the focus is on visual poetry — poetry that doesn't just rely on the words, but on how they're arranged on the page. If you've ever looked at a poem and thought as much about the shape of the text as the meaning of the lines, that's exactly the kind of thing this is built around.

The workshop is one of the Southbank Centre's Creative Encounters, a free fortnightly series that runs around connection, conversation and making, with every session open to the public. The whole thing is about getting stuck in rather than just sitting and listening, so it's a good one to go to if you'd rather be doing something than just watching it. It's part of the London Literature Festival, which means it sits alongside a wider programme of literary events across the city.

As for the venue, The Clore Ballroom is a large, open space on Level 2 of the Royal Festival Hall, right in the heart of the Southbank Centre on Belvedere Road. It hosts a fair few of the Centre's free events, from performances by its Resident Orchestras to social dances open to everyone; when there's no event on, it's a spot where you can drop in to catch up with friends, relax with a book or have a coffee and a bite to eat at the Ballroom Cafe. It's a big, airy room, so there's plenty of space to work in.

The session starts at 6pm on Wednesday 21 October, and it's free to attend. If you're around the Southbank on a Wednesday evening and fancy spending it making something, this is a straightforward way to do it.