Once Upon a Time, But Not Quite: Poetry Workshop

Step inside the world of fairytales, but not as you know them ...

In this generative poetry workshop, we’ll take the stories we grew up with and reimagine them through a modern, subversive lens.

What happens after “happily ever after”? What would the story sound like if the witch, the wolf, or the mirror finally got to speak? And who gets written out of the tale altogether?

We’ll explore why these stories endure, how they’ve shaped our ideas of womanhood, power and love, and see what poets can uncover when we crack them open. Through a mix of guided prompts, playful discussion, short readings, and focused writing time, participants will invent fresh perspectives, reclaim silenced voices and breathe new life into old narratives.

Suitable for all levels, this workshop will be playful, empowering, and rooted in mythic possibility. You’ll leave with new drafts, new perspectives and a story that’s not quite the one you started with.

About the tutor

Siobhán Flynn is a poet from Dublin. She won the Mairtín Crawford Poetry Award (2025) and the Cúirt New Writing Prize for Poetry (2022), and was selected for the Freedom to Write Project (2024), a John Hewitt Summer School Bursary (2023) and Poetry Ireland Introductions (2023). Her work has been highly commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Award (2018 and 2023) and the Munster Literature Centre Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition (2023).

Her poems have appeared widely in print and online, including The Irish Times, The Storms, Abridged, Dreich, Amsterdam Quarterly, Skylight 47, Washing Windows V and The Stony Thursday Book.

As someone who came to writing later in life, she believes poetry is for everyone and that creativity is something anyone can try, explore or return to whenever they need it.