Expressing the Earth: A haiku poetry workshop

Prof Patrick Corbett is a retired Professor of Petroleum Geoengineering at Heriot-Watt University. He spent ten years in the oil industry working as a geologist in the UK, Netherlands and Indonesia.  He has a PhD and DSc from Heriot-Watt University in Petroleum Engineering.  He served as Head of the Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Head of the Energy Academy, Court Member and Watt Club Vice-President whilst at Heriot-Watt.  He is a Fellow of the RSE.  He has served on the Board of the Scottish Poetry Library and is a member of the School of Poets there.  He is a Trustee of the Burngate Purbeck Stone Centre in Dorset.  He is now a geopoet and Co-Director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics.

Norman Bissell is an author and the recently retired Director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics. His acclaimed poetry collection Slate, Sea and Sky and novel Barnhill about George Orwell’s last years are published by Luath Press. His latest creative non-fiction book Living on an Island Expressing the Earth tells how he came from Glasgow to live on the Isle of Luing in Argyll and about his outstanding contribution to geopoetics over many years. He has considerable experience of providing talks and creative writing workshops at all levels and he successfully crowdfunded and raised sponsorship to make the award winning film Expressing the Earth. As its producer, he has taken part in Q&As and is arranging screenings of the film throughout the UK and internationally. Further information: www.normanbissell.com and www.geopoetics.org.uk.  

Glenda Rome is a Scottish filmmaker, originally from rural Dumfries and now living near Edinburgh. She moved to the city at eighteen to study photography and film, beginning a lifelong pursuit of how poetry and image shape the way we perceive the world. For over two decades, Glenda has worked as a freelance filmmaker, cinematographer, and workshop facilitator, creating films and projects that bridge art, activism, and education. She has also worked extensively with young people across the world, including disenfranchised youth and young offenders, helping them use film as a means of expression and empowerment. Her debut feature, Expressing the Earth, marks a return to her first love — the Scottish landscape — and explores how the ideas of poet-thinker Kenneth White resonate deeply with her own creative journey.