Aston Society of Poetry (or A.S.P. for short) is a new poetry society, founded by Marcello Giovanelli and Mel Wardle Woodend for students and staff at Aston University to meet once a month on campus and share, discuss, and enjoy poetry in a safe, accessible space. Its aim is to be inclusive to all so it suitable for beginners or experienced poets alike, as well as anyone who might like to just come along to listen and experience poetry for the first time.
A.S.P. will hopefully provide a platform to develop confidence for new writers of poetry to share their own work – to build and develop confidence in both writing and reading or performing. It is also an opportunity to talk about poetry and share suggestions of poetry collections to read – or spoken word performances to watch and listen to.
The sessions have a flexible structure but generally involves members sharing what they are currently reading (including recommendations of favourite poets and poems) with others, extended discussion of poems (either by members or those members have been reading), and general chat about reading and writing poetry. At the end of each session there is a creative writing prompt, with handouts to take home, to provide a creative challenge for anyone who would like to try the prompt – but it is completely optional.
Members of A.S.P. are excited to be taking part in Wolverhampton Literature Festival in February 2023.
Mel Wardle Woodend is a PhD student studying the relationship between environmental poetry and wellbeing through Applied Linguistics at Aston University and was Staffordshire Poet Laureate 2019-2022. She holds an MA in Creative Writing, enjoys facilitating poetry workshops and performance events, is co-organiser of WORD Stafford and co-founder of Aston Society of Poetry. Mel is Director of dyslexia friendly publishing company Dream Well Writing Ltd: reflecting her passion for making reading and books accessible and enjoyable to as many people as possible.
Her published poetry collections include Natural Colours (2017), Just a Thought (2019), short story in paperback Tabitha (2021) and various poetry anthologies for charity. She also writes poetry and stories for children, using animal characters to portray a variety of themes.
Marcello Giovanelli is Reader in Literary Linguistics and Head of English, Languages and Applied Linguistics at Aston University. His research and teaching interests centre on the language of poetry and he has published book-length studies of John Keats and Siegfried Sassoon. He is currently working on a project examining the language of covid poetry. He is also a published poet; his work has appeared in a range of journals and magazines including Allegro Poetry; Dear Reader; Erato; Ink, Sweat and Tears; Full House Literary; Green Ink Poetry, Sparks of Calliope and ThePoetry Village.
Mel says ‘It is great to be able to create a safe space for students and staff to be able to share poetry at Aston. I really hope others will gain as much from enjoying poetry as I do – and that it may provide a creative, therapeutic outlet for some as well as an exciting opportunity to get involved in local performance opportunities.’
Marcello says ‘A.S.P will provide an opportunity for all poetry lovers at Aston to come together to share and talk about poetry. I’m really looking forward to all the exciting discussions we will have and to reading more poetry!’
