The Curious Line - Workshop with John McCullough and Falmouth Poetry Group

Sat 6 Sep 2025 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM The Writers' Block, TR15 2QE & Reading at 2pm

Falmouth Poetry Group presents: The Curious Line with John McCullough

This workshop focuses on how to break new ground in your poetry through a range of reading and writing exercises designed to help you extend the boundaries of your use of language. We will investigate an array of different kinds of phrase-making and imagery, and you'll be encouraged to explore the impact of surprise through playing with fusions of the concrete and abstract, sound patterning and surreal metaphors. John will also discuss how he uses notebooks to help maximize his creativity by returning to images and phrases from poems that haven’t worked, and the significance of writing as a craft that rewards endurance and development over longer periods of time.

John McCullough lives in Hove. His book of poems, Reckless Paper Birds (Penned in the Margins) won the 2020 Hawthornden Prize for Literature as well as being shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. John’s collections have been Books of the Year for publications including The Guardian, The Times, The Independent and The Telegraph and he also won the Polari First Book Prize. His poem ‘Flower of Sulphur’, from his fourth collection Panic Response (Penned in the Margins), was shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. John’s fifth collection, Crowd Voltage, will be published in March 2026 by Bloodaxe.

John will be doing a reading at 2pm. You are welcome to stay at The Writers' Block inbetween sessions, or grab lunch from Beats and Roots or the Buttermarket. If you can only come to the reading, please book a ticket here. 

Location

The Writers' Block, TR15 2QE