Poetry Workshops and Coal Anthology

Join us to mark the 40th Anniversary year of the Miners’ Strike 1984-85, with one of our exciting poetry workshops.

The programme is organised by National Coal Mining Museum for England in collaboration with notable poetry publisher, The Poetry Business. A Coal Anthology will follow in the autumn, along with poetry readings during 2024-25.

Your poem, crafted in these workshops, has the potential to be chosen for inclusion in the Coal Anthology.

Sat 16 March 2024 – Women and the Strike
In person, suitable for ages 16+

Use photographs, objects, and poems from the time with poet Sarah Wimbush to create new writing about women’s roles during the strike.

Please note: You don’t have to identify as a woman to attend this workshop.

Sat 27 April – Community and Activism
In person, suitable for ages 16+

Explore the relationship between words and action, with author Helen Mort. Discover how coal mining communities fought to retain their industry, with the support of other marginalised groups.

Please note: This workshop will take place underground.

Sat 25 May – Youth Arts Festival
In person, suitable for ages 11+

Join Matt Abbott to create a poem in response to the 84/85 – The Longest Year exhibition. We’re looking for young people’s perspectives to be included in our Coal Anthology and Youth Arts Festival on 6 July titled ‘Coal Camaraderie’.

Sat 22 June – Conflict and Comradeship
In person, suitable for ages 16+

Apart from fake news and the conflict which tore communities apart, the strike was a time for solidarity and community, ‘days of laughter and days of pain’. In this workshop led by Ian Parks, unearth these twin themes using primary sources.