Six months already? !
What I’ve been up to…Jan-Mar 2023
Welcome back! It has been a little while since the last update mainly due to a flurry of writing activities and a myriad of planning meetings to open up more opportunities for poets across the county to be involved in festivals and events over the coming year. But more on that later…be prepared, this is a mammoth blog!
January Writing Hour, The Poetry Habit and grila-poet-ry
The year started for me with a personal commitment to the ‘January Writing Hour’ hosted by the excellent fonts of poetry knowledge and prompts Clare Shaw and Kim Moore. The act of writing for at least 1hr every morning in January responding to some brilliant and enlightening prompts (optional) alongside almost 200 other poets, in a silent but very together online community, was addictive and empowering and I recognised some familiar faces also head down and focussed on getting the most from the month.
I followed this experience up with Sophie Howarth's ‘The Poetry Habit’ - another online course but incre
dibly bonding experience - hosted by Deborah Alma (the doyenne of all things poetry and perfect coffee at The Poetry Pharmacy in Bishops Castle). I discovered the joy of becoming ‘grila-poet’ (R) and found other ways to flex my poetry wings in directions that have begun to consolidate my writing and fine art practices- something I've been aiming for for some time. The very useful books and wide-ranging poems Sophie referred to during the course can be sourced from the Poetry Pharmacy shop or online here. Personally, I don't need any excuse to make the trip to this quirky village in Shropshire - put it on your poetry to-do list!
Alt
hough I am excited where all this interaction may take my own practice, I have also combined a lot of what I gleaned from these poetry workshops with my experience in using visual learning techniques in several recent workshops I've delivered. I have found my groove here and this approach has certainly helped to break down some barriers with both young people and adults new to poetry and has sometimes added a challenging experimental (and hopefully fun) element for the more experienced participants.
Working with groups over the last couple of months to explore topics such as LGBTQ+ identity (Poetry on Loan), Health Literacy in young people (Staffordshire Libraries) and chat to patients in Queens Hospital Burton to create poems with them have all been very positive experiences for me and I hope for everyone else involved too as I plan to do a lot more!
All things Laureate…
I love learning and research - both of which are an essential elements in my creative practice - and I have had chance to do both while creating two major new poems over the last couple of months.
It can sometimes take me weeks to research a theme/subject, look for exactly the right notebook to use and then procrastinate before putting pencil to paper. Someone recently said to me, ‘“you can’t want to be a sailor and not go to sea” when I was talking about this and they were so right; so after weeks of visits and reading, I set to work the same day on a poem to open the ’If These Walls Could Talk’ festival at Tamworth Castle that co-incidentally extended the themes I had just visited in a poem commissioned for the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce with an added nod to Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'. It was fun to re-discover my old sixth form text as a more widely read person since those days and is a text I might find myself returning to.
Opening 
the The Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Awards evening at Drayton Manor Hotel awards with my poem “The Business of Enlightenment” was a fabulous and inspirational experience, not just because of the wonderful meal afterwards, but also because I met several business people who had a genuine love for and interest in poetry. I even did my own bit of marketing with free postcards of an alternative version of the poem with this image (L) on the front. I do have a few left so please do ask for one when you see me next! You can read both versions on my Dawn Jutton Versified blog.
I’m hoping some of the conversations from that evening will lead to building new opportunities for poets in the areas covered by the chamber. I’m also keen to hear from poetry peers if you are interested in developing ideas that expose more businesses to the value of poetry and to the benefit of collaboration.
When I set out my proposals for the laureate-ship tenure I emphasised sharing my love of Staffordsh
ire heritage and bringing into sharper focus the voices of women and marginalised groups. How lucky was I then to team up with Lara Rowe at Tamworth Castle to do just that and open a brand new pilot storytelling and literature festival (‘If These Walls Could Talk’) with a specially commissioned poem performed on the first evening.
It was a magical event held by candlelight in the Tudor dining room and probably my best poetry performance and experience to date. I felt it brought the characters in my poem to life and gave me a real connection to the poem that was written in response to and then performed in the space - a familiar process for me as an artist who often exhibits in response to heritage spaces. I was followed by wonderful storyteller Maria Credali whose tale of heroic acts had the audience entranced and was so well suited to the space . Let’s hope the great castle team get the funding for a repeat performance to get even more literature events at such an atmospheric and inspiring venue!
I enjoyed joining WORD Stafford and Ian Henery at Wolves Litfest in February for a double performance and meeting up with everyone including my predecessor Mel Woodend and the Aston University Poets for alm
ost a full day of diverse and engaging readings in the Mander Centre.
This was followed the next week by a lunchtime gig at St. Chad’s in Stafford for the TINPB Stafford Green Arts Festival where several published and prize-winning poets including the Wolverhampton Poet Laureate Kuli Kohli, Offa’s press poet Cherry Doyle and the excellent Lichfield Poets read in the presence of the Mayor Councillor Philip Leason and an almost full church. It was also great to catch up with last year's young poet laureate Erin Gascoigne-Jones, but the star was definitely Peter -Jon Watkiss' new guide-dog- who had his own opinion on his performance!
Mel is still managing to bring so many excellent poets to Stafford and I certainly appreciate the opportunities she provides in Stafford for us all to perform in such varied company. I also muted the idea of a Midland laureates get-together gig to celebrate 10 years of Staffordshire Poet Laureates…watch this space….!
In Mel and Jon Watkiss’ latest WORD Stafford Spring slam at Stafford Library however, the calibre of performers was such I much preferred being a judge alongside fellow poets Sandra Chambers and Gary Carr! Well done to winner, Northampton-based poet Andy Wilson, for his softly-spoken and emotive performances and to runner up, regular slam winner Gerald Kells, who missed out by less than a point.
photo by Jon Watkiss
Coming up…there are still lots of projects and opportunities for Staffordshire poets from the connections I have made over the last few months including festivals, Spring Fairs and workshop opportunities. The first of these that may be of interest are:
22nd-23rd April
Bishton Hall Spring Fair 
We are looking for poets to join Gary Carr and myself as ‘troubadours’ writing in the unique Temple Gardens, interacting with visitors and performing from a poetry corner in the cafe courtyard at the fascinating Bishton Hall near Wolsley Bridges, Stafford.
The current owner, tv antiques expert and auctioneer Charles Hanson, is keen to bring diverse events and new audiences to appreciate the wonderful grounds and atmospheric spaces that so lend themselves to intimate creative events. Our idea is to develop new audiences for poetry events and workshops and to potentially create enough interest to put on self-funding creative writing workshops.
Based on previous events the anticipated weekend footfall is over 2,000 people so also an ideal opportunity to sell those books and recruit people to workshops! The poetry stand at Bishton Hall is being donated free this year in return for developing new audiences and future literature events at the venue so if you would like to be involved please get in touch with me very soon!
April 14th - May 2023
Staffordshire Greener Libraries Competition and events
My laureate application ‘Staffordshire Pie’ poem and film is being used to help launch Staffordshire Libraries green-themed poetry competition for adults and children (link to competition here). The deadline for submissions is Friday 14 April 2023.
Meanwhile my ‘One Act’ poem created for the Green libraries toolkit will include a film showing of the poem on Staffordshire Day (May 1st) and followed by workshops to be delivered during the coming months.
The Greener Libraries initiative will also include range of accessible events including a poetry afternoon at the end of the month - provisionally 20th May- at Stafford Library. If you would like to perform a 7-10mins ‘Green-themed’ set at the event please get in touch by email dawnjuttonversified@gmail.com
Queer Staffordshire & Pride events 
Do you identify as an LGBTQ+ / queer creative connected to Staffordshire?
Staffordshire Archives team are now on board with a Queer Staffordshire Voices project idea and we are hoping to work together to uncover more personal histories from the archives over the next year.
This will include a call out for contributors to help research and development of material to celebrate next February with exhibitions and possibly publication. I am also planning to link up with the various Staffordshire Pride committees to have a presence and promote the project at the many Pride celebrations this year across the county.
Wildlife Poetry & Photography at Wolsley Wildlife Centre
Phil Binding and I are currently collaborating on an exhibition of photography and poetry at Wolsley Wildlife Centre to support their plans to open up more spaces for alternative uses at their headquarters. Those of you on facebook will be very familiar with Phil’s wonderful wildlife images and his poetry, and you are probably aware of my landscape themed poems and photographs.
We are very excited about this project that will hopefully include walking workshops at the centre and will let you know dates as soon as they are confirmed.
Also coming up…
are opportunities to be involved with poetry activities at
...FUSE Festival Lichfield in July at Beacon Park,
If you would like to be part of our troupe of troubadours for this event and want to have further discussion how you might get involved please get in touch. You will need to have experience of (and confidence) writing in public and performing to transient audiences and be prepared to volunteer your time, potentially in exchange for booking participants for your workshops/selling books.
...a heritage creative writing and photography project to celebrate 50years of Tamworth Library and hopefully more projects in the north of the county during the coming year.
If you have a project or idea - or just an urge to buy me coffee and talk about ways the laureateship may support your events or projects - please feel free to get in touch, ideally by email but you can also find me on all the usual social media platforms.
Wishing you all an excess of chocolate and sunny times over your Easter celebrations and of course that your writing sails from your pen out to sea!
Me? I’ll be trying to get back to that poetry writing habit that started so well but has slipped to still reading my ‘five-a-day’ but writing much less. Now which colour notebook should I use first …..?