Oxford Writers Wheel

Maya Little and Penny Boxall delivered a series of nine workshops as part of Swan School's elective program. The workshops saw participants produce poems of their own as well as discussing a range of poetry from ancient haiku to contemporary light verse.

Many students gained confidence in reading the poems aloud and contributing their ideas due to the warmth of the mentors’ interactions.

The students loved the variety of activities, such as where a poem was put through google translate several times to transform its meaning. Group poetry writing was great, and the clear structure/sentence starters were useful for our younger students.

– Ms Khan, Teacher at Swan School

Over the course of October and November, our mentors brought the spirit of creative writing to games of Catan with the Parasol Project at a number of venues including the Quaker Meeting House and Oxford Maths Institute. We discussed the wider issues of commerce and resource husbandry, travel, and colonisation and devised ways of enriching the game with the techniques of storytelling.

The scheme offered the young people an opportunity to relax and play with those in their peer group while also getting the chance to discuss and reflect on important themes such as power, capitalism, collaboration, and competition through game playing (Catan) and conversations on anthropology and literature.

The Catan Poetry Project has been a resounding success, thanks to the dedication, flexibility, and talent of the educators involved. These encouraging and adaptable professionals guided the writers through the creative process, helping them step outside their comfort zones and explore new possibilities.

One of the standout aspects of the project was the opportunity for participants to visit prestigious institutions like Trinity College and the Maths Institute, where they engaged with academics and learned how poetry can intersect with other disciplines. The educators’ ability to work alongside scholars, encouraging the writers to embrace different perspectives, made this experience both unique and enriching, allowing everyone to grow, collaborate, and push their creative boundaries.

The Catan Poetry Project not only flourished due to the flexibility and talent of the educators but also because of the deep care and empathy shown by the writers involved. Their genuine dedication to the young participants created a supportive and nurturing environment, where the children felt encouraged to express themselves.

This connection left a lasting impact, as the kids continue to talk about their experiences, reflecting on how meaningful and inspiring the project was. Many have even expressed interest in running future sessions themselves. The caring and empathetic nature of the writers ensured that the project resonated far beyond the immediate experience, igniting a lasting passion for poetry and self-expression.

- Phil, Parasol Project

Over the course of the year our mentors went to EMBS College in East Oxford to deliver sessions in storytelling and poetry. Our mentors, Isabelle Baafi and Maya Little, brought a range of dynamic exercises to the classroom.

For example, some of the sessions involved 'fill in the blanks' exercises using Wendy Cope's The Orange, where students guessed missing words before reading the full poem to compare their interpretations. Afterwards, the group explored two more poems, discussing what stood out, what they liked or disliked, and how the events or situations in each poem effectively conveyed emotions.

Our ongoing series with Name It Project at Barracks Lane Community Garden. Workshops include guiding participants to conjure stories using some vocabulary they invented, and to engage with word games inspired by truth and/or imagination.

The recent writing workshops with the Name It Project encouraged creativity through poetry and interactive exercises. In one session, participants used words from an existing poem to craft their own unique versions. Alongside this, icebreaker activities like 'Two Truths, One Lie' helped the group get to know each other.

The open format allowed for an organic flow, with sessions adapting to the participants' interests, ensuring everyone had space to contribute and explore language in a way that felt engaging and fun.

Jennifer Wong delivered two workshops entitled Writing Family - How do family memories help us learn more about who we truly are?; and Writing Food Memories and Culture - reflecting on the meals that shaped you and the stories they carry. These sessions took place at Caper Bookshop and at the Quaker Meeting House with young people from the Oxford Chinese Community and Advice Centre.

We are glad to partner with Fusion Arts on these writing workshops to offer some more support to Chinese youth community and to broaden their interest and their willingness to write / express themselves creatively in English

- Estella Packwood, OCCAC

Fusion Arts hosted a series of inspiring creative writing workshops as part of the Oxford Writers Wheel, bringing together writers of all backgrounds to explore storytelling, memory, and joy. Held over the summer, both in person and online, these sessions offered a space for reflection, experimentation, and community through the power of words.

Award-winning writer Isabelle Baafi led two workshops - Transformation in all its forms, celebrating change as an integral part of the human experience; and on Writing Memory - where participants revisited their most formative memories and crafted new ones, transforming them into poems that explore identity and challenge what we believe to be true.

Maya Little followed with two sessions - Truth & Fiction - building expansive worlds in our poems and using fictional settings to uncover new truths; and Embracing Joy - celebrating the world and what you care about.

These workshops provided a supportive and engaging space for writers of all levels to connect, create, and grow.

The workshop was open to all voices and all ideas. This meant everyone felt confident to share and learn from each other. Maya was compelling and engaging and left us feeling inspired to never stop writing.

- Truth and Fiction Workshop Participant

Our ongoing mentorship programme identifies young writers who’d benefit from time and space to work on their craft. They are paired with one of our stellar mentors to meet once every two weeks, identifying areas of writing technique they want to improve.

She never had much exposure to this type of expressive creative writing experience at school before so really seemed to cherish the session.

It's a rare opportunity to be able to work with someone one-on-one in a sustained way, and I felt I was really able to provide value by paying attention to a young poet and working with them to identify areas of craft that it might be useful to focus on.

We had enough time and space to move beyond looking at specific poems, and to talk more broadly about principles of sound, form, and editing that might be able to take forward.

- OWW Tutors