We’ve enjoyed running our own events, as well as being participants at workshops and conferences spanning archaeology, farming and conservation. Each has inspired us in different ways, bringing new understanding of how we might engage different communities with poetry and bogs.
Above: Participants at the Peat Poetry workshop at the Exeter Customs House
Peat Poetry Day
Exeter Customs House
Organised by the Bog Talk project
November 2024
To share and discuss Bog Talk’s work across disciplines, organisations and with the public, we organised a workshop and poetry event at the Custom House in Exeter with Literature Works.
An afternoon workshop brought together academics from History, English and Creative Writing, Geography and the Centre for Resilience in Water and Waste from the University of Exeter; poets; archaeologists and peatland restoration practitioners. We explored sensory memories of bogs and discussed the cultural value of peatlands and associated poetry with Professor Melanie Giles and poet Richard Scott.
An evening poetry reading included poets Fiona Benson, AK Blakemore, Ella Duffy, Melanie Giles, Philippa Johnson, Richard Scott, Clare Shaw and John Wedgwood Clarke. There was an audience of 100 people in person and online. This enthusiastic attendance reflects the growing interests in bogs and poetry.
An excellent summary of the event was written by Foyle Young Poet Freya Gillard for the Poetry Society in her article ‘Poetry, People, Peatland: a young poet’s report on the Bog Talk knowledge sharing event’.
Above: Collages made by participants of the Nature Recovery workshop at Aarhus University (Photo: Rose Ferraby)
Nature Recovery Workshop
Institute of Advanced Studies and Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University
May 2024
We were invited by the Institute of Advanced Studies at Aarhus University to lead workshops as part of a two day workshops symposium on bogs and wetlands. Linking with our colleagues in Denmark allowed us to share and discuss peatlands on an international scale, to compare approaches and plan future collaborations.
The event was a collaboration with Professor David Harvey (Associate Professor in Critical Heritage Studies) and Ciara Kierans (AIAS-PIREAU Fellow) at Aarhus University. Participants included academics and researchers from across disciplines at the university. In collaboration with Professor Melanie Giles (University of Manchester), we ran a listening exercise designed to take the imagination into bogs and think about how we sense landscapes; made collages of participants experiences of bogs or wetlands; and a poetry exercise drawing out different perspectives of bogs.
Lindow Man Celebrations
Manchester Museum
June 2024
Bog Talk team members John Wedgwood Clarke and Rose Ferraby were invited to Manchester Museum to take part in the 40th anniversary celebrations of the discovery of Lindow Man. The event explored ideas of curation, creativity, environmental change and community cohesions. John read some of his new peat poems, and Rose talked about the creation of new artwork about Lindow to commemorate the anniversary and our peatland archaeology.
The conference highlighted the importance of working together across disciplines and developing genuine and strong collaborations with communities. The bog continues to be at the heart of a sense of local distinctiveness and grounded belonging, with the body of Lindow Man acting as a conduit to past generations at the site.
Above: Collaborative curlew words and a woven willow curlew by Basketmaker Phil Bradley with the audience at the Northern Curlew Skills Sharing Workshop (Photo: Rose Ferraby)
Northern Curlew Skills Sharing Workshop
Nidderdale National Landscape
January 2025
This practical workshop took place in Grassington, North Yorkshire in January 2025, and was run by the Nidderdale National Landscape, led by Matthew Trevelyan (Farming in Protected Landscapes Officer). Through the lens of a popular single species like the curlew, we can understand ecological challenges, cultural connections, and people’s emotional attachments to species and landscapes. The event had a diverse mix of participants, including gamekeepers, farmers, landowners, conservationists, artists and environmental organisations. Rose Ferraby ran a collaborative poetry exercise which experimented with how to use poetry as a process for discussion in conservation and agricultural contexts.
Carbon Calling
Penrith
June 2025
As ‘artist in residence’ for regenerative farming conference Carbon Calling, Rose Ferraby experimented with the form of collaborative poetry. Keen to find a way of understanding, listening to and sharing the subtle emotions and keen observations about the land and farms by participants at the conference. You can read the poem on the Carbon Calling website.
