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Ken Cockburn

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Other contact method: Website: kencockburn.co.uk/contact-2
Local authority: Edinburgh City
Languages: English
Ken Cockburn's headshot

I am a poet and translator based in Edinburgh. I work in schools, colleges and community settings, and collaborate with visual artists on book, exhibition and public art projects. I have run many poetry sessions and writing workshops for children and adults in indoor and outdoor settings schools, libraries, prisons, hospices and care homes, as well as gardens, beaches and woodland.

I have worked with organisations including National Galleries of Scotland, Trees for Life, Scottish Care and Artlink Edinburgh and Lothians, as well as many library services and individual schools. I have written online education poetry resources on topics as varied as sonnets, the Scottish parliament and the First World War. I also run Edinburgh Poetry Tours, guided walks with readings of poems in the city's Old Town. I'm happy giving readings, workshops and talks for all kinds of groups and ages, especially if a walk is included.

Recent projects include Buson 2016, focussing on the Japanese haiku poet and painter, Rhymes Across Languages, translating a German-language poem with primary pupils who don't speak German, poems about the 1919 Iolaire disaster near Stornoway, Wild City, investigating nature in urban settings, and sessions for secondary schools on Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert.

Local authorities will visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events will deliver

Bilingual event; Chairing events; Mentoring; Panel event; Performance; Professional development, CLPL or CPD; Reading; Residency; Talk; Workshop

Audience will work with

Adult learners; Outdoor learning; People living with dementia

Topics of work

Ageing; Coasts, seas & oceans; Editing & editing your own work; Family; History; Island communities; Nature; Publishing & getting published; Seasonal books; Translation; World War 1; World War 2

Age groups published for

Adults

Age groups will work with

3-5; 6-8; 9-11; 12-14; 15-18; 18+

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+