From Keats’ ‘Ode to a Grecian Urn’ to Girl with a Pearl Earring starring Scarlett Johansson, art has long inspired screenwriters, poets and writers. Join poet, songwriter and editor Laura Williamson for a session set among, and inspired by, the finalists for The Adam Portraiture Award 2026. Workshop runs 1-4pm.

This workshop will take participants on a journey exploring the dialogue between the visual and the written. Using the portraits as a starting point, students will be guided through a range of exercises, strategies and tools to produce a work of poetry, or creative prose if you prefer. There will be a chance to both share and to refine your work as you go.

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Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Suitable for high school students and adults.

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About your facilitator: Laura Williamson is the editor of 1964: mountain culture / aotearoa, and the former editor of Spoke: the mountain bikers’ journal. A widely published poet, she is also a regular contributor to Kia Ora: The in-flight magazine of Air New Zealand and her book The Bike and Beyond: Life on Two Wheels in Aotearoa New Zealand is out now with BWB Texts.

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Presented in partnership with Queenstown Writers Festival.