StrathWrites presents a free poetry workshop with Joey Frances, looking at themes of wage labour, poetry and work.

Join us for a free poetry workshop with Joey Frances, hosted by Maria Sledmere on behalf of StrathWrites.

Wage labour and poetry are both our ‘work’. Each is a complex way of mediating the fundamental social drive – to collaborate with others, to talk to them, to share ideas, to conspire, to say, hey, let’s do something together, let me show you something, I’ve got an idea. This workshop will explore how we think and re-think these relationships, always in connection with others as we inevitably are. Who do we write to, or with? Who do we work for, or with? How do we write and think about the relationships that we actually have in our daily lives, and how would we like to change them? What forms of collaboration do we engage in, and what forms of collaboration would we like to engage in? With these animating questions in mind, we will read some poems, and foray into writing, and thinking, together.

This event is free, ticketed and open to all. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.

If you have a ticket and can no longer make the event, we kindly ask that you release your ticket on Eventbrite to make room for another person (numbers are limited).

Joey Frances is a poet, musician, poetry organiser & teacher based in Manchester. He co-organises the reading series Peter Barlow's Cigarette, and a bi-weekly poetry reading group. This workshop will draw in particular on his latest pamphlets many beautiful acquaintances (death of workers whilst building skyscrapers press, 2026), and takeaway night (ground game, 2023). Much of his poetry can be read at pxxtry.com.

About StrathWrites

StrathWrites is a platform for engaging the wider Strathclyde community in creative writing.

Founded as a cross-faculty endeavour by Maria Sledmere (Humanities) and Jenny Carey (Education) in 2024 to celebrate the 60-year anniversary of Strathclyde’s Royal Charter, more recently it has taken on life as a Wellcome Trust-funded initiative led by Liam Bell and Churnjeet Mahn, as part of Strathclyde’s Cultures of Collaboration in a Socially Progressive Technological University (‘Collaborative Cultures’) Programme.

This event is co-badged with the Culture, Communication and Creative Practice Research Group at Strathclyde.