Poet Malika Booker is running an online workshop exploring how the act of ritual can become an important and necessary part of a writer’s journey into creating work.

Ritual is what makes us human, to be able to make meaning beyond the here and now through the use our imagination. In that sense, the making of poetry is perhaps ritual in itself. Malika argues that ritual is part of the important and necessary work for writers and artists.

The workshop will begin with a ritual to arrive at your writing desk, moving into the liminal space for writing. We’ll explore poems that delve into everyday and ceremonial ritual. Rituals, from how we enter the day to how we prepare for important days in our lives, enact traditions, values, love and community. They can be inherited or invented, or more often, a combination of the two. We’ll excavate rituals embedded in our daily lives and their meaning, making ordinary experiences extraordinary, magical and emotionally enriching. Malika will also discuss her own poetic work as ritual, including poems, exhibition work and interactive performances.

Finally, Malika will lead a ritual during the workshop and you’ll write poems from the intensity of this experience. You’d be asked to bring a few simple props in advance (including a bell, or simply a glass and spoon that makes a bell-like sound). You'll also be asked to bring the names of people who have been silenced or forgotten that you’d like to include in a ritual of utterance in order to name and honour. These names could be from a political, historical or personal/ family context (bring 3, 5 or 7 names).