Known for his poems of intelligence, craft, and humour, Irish-Australian poet and creative writing lecturer Dr. Nathanael O’Reilly has over 20 years teaching experience, currently servings as the Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States.

Work with Nat to develop a lucid, vivid exploration of place and belonging in your poetry.

In this three-hour workshop Nat will teach you how to focus on writing place and belonging, examining the relationship between place and self, landscape and language, place and ancestry, and conceptions of home. As you read and discuss poems together, learn his approach to creating intimate connection with place, and techniques for writing effectively about place and belonging. Create new works during the workshop, and receive feedback from Nat and your peers. Discover and enrich your skills in a generative, reflective, exploratory and inclusive experience.

• The workshop is suitable for poets at all writing levels.

• Participants will draft new poems during the workshop.

• Refreshments, a lunch, and writing materials will be provided.

There will also be a Poetry Reading Circle led by Nat Sunday, 23 January at 3 pm. Workshop attendees are encouraged to join in.

COVID safety measures will be implemented for the workshop. All participants will be required to be masked throughout the workshop, work tables will be placed for social distancing, and COVID certification will be checked at the door. Advanced reservations are required, there will be no tickets sold at the door.

Should additional COVID restrictions be implemented prior to Jan 22 that require the cancellation of the in-person workshop, the workshop will be moved to Zoom.

Nathanael O’Reilly is the author of eight collections of poetry, including Boulevard (Beir Bua Press, 2021); (Un)belonging (Recent Work Press, 2020); BLUE (above/ground press, 2020); Preparations for Departure (UWAP Poetry, 2017), named one of the Books of the Year in Australian Book Review; and Distance (Ginninderra Press, 2015). More than 250 of his poems have appeared in journals and anthologies published in fourteen countries. He received an Emerging Writers Grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and was writer-in-residence at Booranga Writers’ Centre in Australia. He has given invited readings in Australia, Canada, England, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and the United States. He has more than twenty years of teaching experience. O'Reilly is the poetry editor for Antipodes: A Global Journal of Australian/New Zealand Literature.