Get Inspired this with WayWORD’s Creative Writing Spring Warm-Up
The creative writing festival launches an exciting programme featuring workshops, readings, and artistic events.
Aberdeen’s WayWORD Festival has announced an engaging Spring into Summer programme, with a range of creative workshops, readings, and interactive events leading up to the main festival later this year. Organised by the University of Aberdeen’s WORD Centre for Creative Writing, WayWORD spotlights youth-led and innovative artistic expression across the city.
After the success of last year’s event, featuring prominent names such as former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead and Caribbean-British poet Grace Nichols, anticipation is already high for the main festival.
But first, this spring, WayWORD kicks off with A Play for Torry: Community Table Read on Saturday, 22 March at The White Cockade in Torry. This unique event invites residents to enjoy a first reading of a new community-driven play, celebrating Torry’s heritage, people, and landscape. The afternoon includes a complimentary buffet lunch, making it a welcoming social gathering.
On Wednesday, 26 March, local artist Kate Steenhauer brings her project Painting Music to St Machar Academy. Participants will see first-hand how artificial intelligence can create original music inspired by live drawings. Attendees can also try their hand at the process, and explore this innovative artistic blend.
The Spring into Summer programme features a range of creative workshops, readings, and interactive events
In April, literary enthusiasts can dive into contemporary queer storytelling with Fierce Salvage: A Queer Words Anthology on 16 April at the Sir Duncan Rice Library. Michael Lee Richardson hosts an evening of readings and discussions featuring four diverse Scottish voices—Mae Diansangu, Robbie MacLeòid, Hannah Nicholson, and Shane Strachan—sharing powerful works in English, Gaelic, and Scots.
May brings Gothic themes with author Heather Parry presenting her latest spine-chilling novel, Carrion Crow, followed by a Gothic writing workshop and an insightful session exploring the realities of a writing career, ideal for emerging local writers.
Closing the spring series, the Outlines Collective will run a workshop at Sunnybank Park on Saturday, 24 May, blending movement and street art as part of the Grampian Wellbeing Festival.
This series of events promises an accessible, creative journey towards WayWORD’s full autumn programme, continuing to champion eclectic and dynamic voices in Aberdeen’s artistic community. Find out more and get tickets from the WayWORD website.
