Press Release
HKBU International Writers’ Workshop presents event by UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage
Wednesday, 5 October 2022
The International Writers’ Workshop (IWW) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) will hold its Distinguished Writers Series in October. Mr Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, will discuss his work and give a literary reading at a virtual event on 18 October with the aim of inspiring literary creativity in teachers and students of HKBU and the general public.
Born in West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, Mr Armitage is an award-winning poet and currently the Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. His collections of poetry include Seeing Stars (2010), The Unaccompanied (2017), Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic (2019), Magnetic Field (2020), and the acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2007). He has also written extensively for television and radio, as well as two novels and multiple non-fiction bestsellers, including All Points North (1998), Walking Home (2012) and Walking Away (2015). His play The Last Days of Troy was performed at Shakespeare’s Globe in London in 2014. He served as the Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford from 2015 to 2019 and received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2018.
Members of the public can join the event online and it is free of charge. Those who are interested in joining can register online (https://bit.ly/3ReWv74). The latest information about the event can be found on IWW’s webpage (http://iww.hkbu.edu.hk/) or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/hkbuiww/).
In addition, IWW will host a masterclass on 19 October, during which Mr Armitage will share his insights on writing poetry with HKBU students.
Each year in the fall semester, the IWW’s Distinguished Writers Series honours one esteemed international writer who will give a literary reading and discuss his or her literary works with local writers and readers. IWW also runs a competitive residency programme in the spring semester each year, with an open call for applications from potential writers-in-residence who will be featured at the IWW Literary Festival in March.
ABOUT IWW
Founded in 2004, the International Writers’ Workshop (IWW) is one of the signature programmes in the Faculty of Arts at HKBU. Over the years, IWW has hosted nearly 130 writers from more than 50 countries, and it is one of the few writers-in-residence programmes in Asia. A self-funded, non-profit initiative, IWW continues to be an important and historically significant initiative that promotes cultural and educational activities in Hong Kong, and it remains a long-standing part of HKBU’s commitment to the literary arts. Please visit our website for more details: http://iww.hkbu.edu.hk/
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