Found and Verbatim Poetry

During this workshop, participants will be introduced to a range of innovative techniques for writing both Found and Verbatim Poetry. To begin, participants will be introduced to some key examples of Found and Verbatim Poetry, including Bhanu Kapil Rider’s experimental collection, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers (2001). The workshop leader will highlight the significant similarities and differences between the two forms as well as where the two forms have originated from: Verbatim poetry takes its approach to finding material from the techniques of verbatim theatre, which, Derek Paget identifies, ‘employs (largely or exclusively) tape-recorded material from the “real-life” originals’ of its characters and events. Through a series of specific techniques and writing exercises connected to writing Found and/or Verbatim Poetry, including Erasure, Traditional Cut and Paste methods, Collage and more, participants will be given the opportunity to begin writing their own Found and Verbatim poems in this session.

Dr Sophie-Louise Hyde is a poet, Creative Writing tutor and entrepreneur based in Loughborough. With a PhD in Digital Verbatim Poetry (2017), Sophie has over five years’ experience teaching both Poetry and Creative Writing at Loughborough University. Her writing focuses on deploying found, verbatim and experimental techniques in poetry, and her work examines important and everyday events (while exploring both individual and community identities in relation to these. Sophie’s poems have been published in PETRIe 69 (on sale in Selfridges), The Worcester Journal (2015) and Ink, Sweat and Tears (2016). She also runs unique, online writing and publishing platform, The Student Wordsmith.