Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival
Join poet Laurie Bolger, founder of The Creative Writing Breakfast Club, for a warm and inspiring workshop inviting participants to imagine a future shaped by kindness and connection via nature and our animal selves. Through individual and collaborative writing exercises Laurie will invite you to celebrate how the simple act of listening to nature and each other can lead to transformative change.
Let your creativity flow, and together we’ll reimagine a future where nature and humanity are good friends. This two hour session invites you to scribble your own individual poem, as well as a collective piece created by the group. So whether you’re an experienced writer or a complete beginner, all you need is a curious mind and maybe a cuppa and your favourite pen to keep you company.
This event is part of the Richmond Arts & Ideas Festival 2025 (13-29 June), exploring the theme Cultural Reforesting.
Laurie Bolger is a London-based writer and the founder of The Creative Writing Breakfast Club. Her work has been showcased at Glastonbury, TATE, the Royal Academy, and Sky Arts. Laurie’s work has appeared in The Poetry Review, The London Magazine, Magma, Crannog, Stand, and Trinity College Icarus, among others.
Her poems and short stories have been shortlisted for The Bridport, Live Canon, Winchester and the Sylvia Plath Prize. In 2023, her poem Parkland Walk won The Moth Poetry Prize, judged by Noble Laureate Louise Glück, and was also Highly Commended in the Forward Prize for Poetry.
Laurie runs Poetry & Nice Things, a sustainable creative market stall. She’s also published three poetry pamphlets: Box Rooms with Burning Eye Books, Spin with Smith Doorstop, and Makeover with The Emma Press. Her debut collection, Lady, is coming out later this year with Nine Arches Press.
“If I could jump inside her poems I would…I imagine it’d be lovely & warm in there” Hollie McNish
“If you ever want a cosy, creative, calming place to explore writing, Laurie’s workshops are perfection…My heart is so full (I know what that means now)” Breakfast Clubber 2025
Apples & Snakes is the leading national organisation for performance poetry, delivering high-quality creative projects and events that make a lasting impact on artists, audiences, and participants across the country. Our remit is to stretch the boundaries of poetry in performance and education, by inspiring participation and giving voice to a diverse range of dynamic poets.
The Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival is supported by the British Council.