The Disfluencies CoLab: Embodying Mother Languages through Poetry & Drawing

We will explore how we can feel nurtured and nourished by expressing a mother language visually through signs and embodiment. The workshop will consider translation, sign languages, drawings and mark making and how all these elements of communication offer a space where we can re-imagine what a mother language might offer. This is an interactive event using poetry and drawing to unlock identity and cultural connections through a polyvocal and polyvisual approach.

Participants are invited to explore ways of layering text with practices of image-making through creating a few lines of poetry on the spot. This workshop is for anyone interested in creative writing, poetry, language, performance, translation, and cultural exchange. No previous experience necessary. All are welcome and we will share in a non-judgmental and relaxed space to support creative responses.

Please note: this workshop is being run twice in different venues - on Sat 21st February and Sat 7th March

Maximum of 15 spaces - please reserve your space

Venue: Altogether Otherwise, 6-10 Hanover St, Manchester, M4 4BB

Please arrive before the start time (from 2:15pm onwards) to allow us to settle into the space together.

Access: We aim to ensure this event is accessible - please contact us with any queries.

About our supporting venue:
Altogether Otherwise is a place where things always happen. Where making, doing, and shared endeavour are all part of the fun. We run workshops, create things, and keep the Hobby House buzzing with activity. No end goals, no pressure, just a space to tinker, try, and enjoy the simple joy of doing.

Lisa Kelly is a poet and editor with single-sided deafness and is half Danish. Her second collection The House of the Interpreter (Carcanet) was a Poetry Book Society Summer Recommendation in 2023, and her first collection A Map Towards Fluency (Carcanet) was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize, 2021.

Louise Adkins is an artist working across photography, text, and drawing. Her practice explores the intersection between performance and the documentation of historical events. She often works with collections, archives, libraries, and heritage sites.

Melissa Tanti is a Research Fellow at Coventry University. Her book, The Translating Subject (March 2025), explores the queer, feminist, transnational, and decolonizing potentials in multilingual experimental texts. She co-creates research projects that enable communities to tell their stories in innovative and creative ways.

Cathy Soreny is a transdisciplinary creative researcher working across filmmaking, nursing and disability. Her PhD research project Stories Beyond Words is exploring co-created approaches to filming and representing communication disabilities.

This is the inaugural event of a new collabroative exploring marginalised communitcation. We are a creative collective of people who are Deaf, stammer, use communication devices, speak marginalised/threatened languages, are neurodiverse, and more. We are united by a vision and passion to challenge societal norms that have grown from unquestioned expectations of speech fluency. We see value and pride in diversity, and seek creative, radically accessible ways to explore and develop approaches to shift these expectations. Together we aim to expand thinking around linguistic diversity to embrace marginalised vocal differences, multilingualism, and forms of non-normative communication.

Co-Lab Founding Members:Louise Adkins; Derek E. Daniels; Conor Foran; Emily Fox; Lisa Kelly; lisa luxx; Julie (Mack)McNamara; Jamie Preece; Peyvand Sadeghian; Cathy Soreny; Joshua St. Pierre; Emma Sullivan; Melissa Tanti

We will creatively capture some aspects of the workshop through video and photos. This is optional for all participants. We will check in with you on arrival if you would rather not appear in these. We will not film the entire event, just short sections at key points to create a short film and images as a record of our work together.

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Host or Publisher Stories Beyond Words