Looks good! Barbara, if you can, please mention these opportunities: +Itch tomorrow evening 7-9.30 at @ShakespeareNP and some Wirral Poetry Festival opportunities (Eleanor is part of our team): +Bare Twigs Wednesday 26th February 2025 • 7:00 pm Online Workshop with Judith Railton and Alison Schultz +Open Poetry Competition 2025 Adjudicators: Helen Ivory & Martin Figura – Open Poetry Competition Prizes Pauline Rowe – Wirral Prizes + The Christopher Salmon Foundation in partnership with Wirral Libraries and Wirral Poetry Festival presents The Christopher Salmon Foundation Poetry Competition 2025 for poems on the theme of “Hope” For Entrants aged 19 years and under, in full time education and living in Wirral Thanks! Ali #liverpoolspeaks

RT @CllrBMurray: ...TODAY...Monday 10th February...

Writing With Hope - We enjoyed a very special morning at our celebration and poetry workshop for the CHRISTOPHER SALMON POETRY COMPETITION on Saturday at Birkenhead Central Library The children and adults all had a great time writing and reading and drawing. Particular thanks to young poet Charlotte who shared her poem of hope with Christopher’s parents. ‘Hope’ is the theme of this year’s Christopher Salmon Poetry Competition and the Wirral Poetry Festival invites young people up to the age of 19 to enter. This is the final year of the competition and so we celebrated the 15 years of its history. Here’s the link to the competition: #WirralPoetryFestival #poets #poetry #wirral #birkenheadlibrary #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #liverpoolspeaks

Last Wednesday, delivering Create Art was a vibrant experience at Liverpool Lighthouse with poetry, art, conversation and creation. I’ve devised 38 sessions here since the start of 2024. As usual, we chatted, shared poetry about colour (including works by Christina Rossetti, Richard Edwards and Gerard Manley Hopkins), and made colour wheels in Anfield in Liverpool. We also looked a little at the art of Sonia Delaunay. Here are some comments from my fellow Create Artists: ‘welcoming and relaxed environment created by Ali and the artists’ ‘great explanations, a mixture of education & empowering creativity, with varied conversation and music, poetry and culture. A great community’ ‘another lesson where I learned new things has ended. Thanks’ ‘a very enjoyable time’ See you back in Liverpool Lighthouse this Wednesday when we will look at creating still life paintings. Ali #CreateArt #liverpoollighthouse #art #anfield #Liverpool #poetry #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #LiverpoolSpeaks

Itch is the monthly spoken word night at Shakespeare North Playhouse (SNP) in Prescot. This month we’re in the studio which is an ace space! Itch is an inclusive, welcoming community space for both performers and audience alike. Every event is full of variety, theatricality, virtuosity, some unpredictability and heart. We are usually in the Café space, sometimes in the Gallery and have also taken Itch to Mamars Artisan Bakery and Licensed Delicatessen in Warrington last May. Last month we were in the excellent @imaginariumtheatreuk . For our next event (Tuesday 11th February 7-9.30pm), we’ll be back at the heart of @shakespearenorthplayhouse . Thank you to everyone who’s already signed up for a 5-minute spot - Matthew, Mike, Alan, Kerry, Darren, Zonked, Hells Bells, Georgina, John, Joseph, Jane and Rachel. We have space for some more, though! Please contact me on here or email me at alihar@hotmail.com if you’d like a spot. Tickets are available from the SNP website from £3. Here’s the link for details: Thank you to everyone who makes each event happen, including all the team at SNP, plus previous excellent hosts Charlie and Emily for creating a great community. Ali #shakespearenorthplayhouse #itch #spokenword #poetry #poets #prescot #merseyside #liverpoolspeaks #AliHarwood #artist #poet #educator

@stephenkeeler @OpenEyeGallery @PaulineRowe_ Sounds great, Stephen. Get in touch with @PaulineRowe_ for future poetry events here. She’s boss!

@PaulineRowe_ @OpenEyeGallery @CllrBMurray Your session was inspiring, Pauline. Thank you. 🌟

Writing With Hope - A CELEBRATION AND POETRY WORKSHOP for the CHRISTOPHER SALMON POETRY COMPETITION Saturday 8th February 2025 10 am – 12 noon Birkenhead Central Library Borough Road Birkenhead Wirral CH41 2XB FREE – no need to book, just turn up ‘Hope’ is the theme of this year’s Christopher Salmon Poetry Competition and the Wirral Poetry Festival invites 5-16 year olds to join the accomplished poet, artist and educator Ali Harwood in this workshop.  This is the final year of the competition and so we will also be celebrating 15 years of its history. There will be a reading of previous winners followed by a time to explore the theme with Ali using words and drawings.  Finally there will be an opportunity for those taking part to share their work. This workshop is aimed at 5 -16 year olds who must be accompanied by an adult. You don’t have to book for this Free event but it does help us to plan. You can reserve your place by clicking the button below, or just turn up on the day.  Either way, we look forward to seeing you. #WirralPoetryFestival #poets #poetry #wirral #birkenheadlibrary #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator

February 6th is International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. This time last year the @saveraukyouthcollective were our featured bards at Liver Bards. Thank you to them and @saverauk CEO Afrah for coming then and highlighting the issue. This followed previous art and poetry workshops with me, and photography workshops with @andrewabphotography . Below is a poem the young people and I wrote together then and which I continue to share. FGM Kenning human rights violator gender inequality reflector physical integrity destroyer non-medical procedure infection causer urination problem maker severe bleeding instigator childbirth complicator autonomy taker mental health shaker UK law breaker awareness awakener by Ali Harwood with Savera UK Youth #saverauk #saveraukyouth #fgm #liverbards #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator

@LexusLiverpool @Ykids_Charity Great news!

Our Liver Bards ‘continue…’ poetic event featuring Wes at Ma Boyle’s was pretty rammed in terms of people, poets and passion. Wes took us on an emotional journey from addiction to some sense of peace. It was intense. And necessary. Before him, we were treated to Kathy, DannyVerses, Lorna, Dan, Paul, David, Chris, Aaron, AL, Jake, Kerry and Darren. I also shared the poem ‘Space Dreamer’ by the talented Charlotte (aged 9) plus ‘Farewell Father’ by Margaret Mundy for Caleb, from her book of collected poems titled ‘Epiphany’. After the break, the audience enjoyed, absorbed and connected with words from Keith, Bob, Gabs, Lari, Joy, Tim, Sir Lamb Poet, Alex, Amanda, Megs Kathleen, Zonked, Ryan, Robert and Paul. All in all, an epic night. Apologies to the bards to whom I was unable to give a spot this time. In the last 12 months, we’ve given a platform to 312 bards in total. Thank you to the whole Liver Bards community for your ongoing support and I look forward to continuing our journey together on Tuesday 4th March for our next event titled ‘The Four Seasons’ (which will be my 100th Liver Bards as host). Spots will be limited to 3 mins for that event to allow more bards to perform - but back to 5 mins in April. Keep barding! Ali PS I’ll be sharing individual photos of our bards on our Liver Bards Facebook site. #LiverBards #poets #poetry #spokenword #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #liverpoolspeaks

Thanks to @wesbpoetry and everyone who made this evening’s Liver Bards poetry event ‘continue…’ both busy and boss. More photos tomorrow! Ali

It was good to be invited along by WoWFEST last Friday to help shape the Creative Health Exchange events at the preliminary creative planning meeting at Liverpool Lighthouse, coincidentally where I have delivered over 30 Create Art sessions to adults last year as part of their Creative Wellbeing programme. I continue to deliver these this year every Wednesday during term time from 12.30 - 2pm (see later images). The Creative Health Exchange is a core intervention activity for the ReCITE programme. ReCITE aims to address health inequalities through storytelling, with Writing on the Wall as the lead creative partner. Two events will be hosted to connect creatives, community organisations and health providers to spark new ideas and thinking with renewed energy to tackle widening inequities in preventive and promotive health and social and mental well-being. It was informative to listen to the experiences and ideas from many attendees, plus sharing some of my work and insights in the now and across the decades, using arts to improve health and wellbeing. I look forward to the Creative Health Exchange event at Liverpool Lighthouse on Tuesday 18th March. #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #LiverpoolSpeaks

At tomorrow’s Liver Bards ‘continue…’ poetry event, as well as our wonderful featured bard Wes, I’m looking forward to welcoming and experiencing the presence and words of fellow bards Amanda, Paul, DannyVerses, David, Zonked, Ryan, Keith, Anne, Lari, Richard, John, Kerry, Darren, Dan, Robert, Megs, Kathleen, Joy, Alex, Bob, Chris, Paul, Tim, Gabriella, Charlotte and Sir Lamb Poet. Hope to see you there! Ali #liverbards #poetry #poets #spokenword #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #liverpoolspeaks

Today and yesterday have been sssensational! Thank you to the hundreds of people that popped by to make a swirling spiral snake with me at @thealbertdock as part of the #yearofthesnake activities with @culture_liverpool . This Sunday has been a day of art, poetry, smiles, conversations, spirals, celebrations and snakes! Thanks, everyone. ❤️🐍❤️ #LNYLiverpool #CNYLiverpool #Liverpool #cultureliverpool #liverpoolcitycouncil #RoyalAlbertDock #LunarNewYear #ChineseZodiacStory #poetry #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #liverpoolspeaks

Today was sssuch fun! Thank you to the many people that popped by to make a swirling spiral snake with me. It was great to chat with folks from near and far about many things, including the Great Race (I even performed my narrative poem about it a few times). I’ll be at Royal Albert Dock again tomorrow for more as Liverpool’s Lunar New Year celebrations continue with Culture Liverpool and we welcome the #YearOfTheSnake with free activities for everyone to enjoy. WEBSITE: As an artist, poet and educator, I will deliver a sssecond FREE Lunar New Year Art Workshop for children and their families as part of the Lunar New Year 2025 celebrations at the Royal Albert Dock. You can create a spiral snake and also explore the Chinese Zodiac Story through a little poetry! Just drop in! Sunday 2 February, 11am – 5pm Let’s welcome the Year of the Snake and its wisdom together with our sense of community. Hope to sssee you there! Ali #LNYLiverpool #CNYLiverpool #Liverpool #cultureliverpool #liverpoolcitycouncil #RoyalAlbertDock #LunarNewYear #ChineseZodiacStory #poetry #aliharwood #artist #poet #educator #liverpoolspeaks

@LBFlyawayhome Helen, Just spoke to Dad and Mum and they are both chuffed! And sent them the link. Thank you so much. Ali