Can I have a word?

Barbican Education

This book resulted from a project that was developed by Barbican Education to inspire creative writing in the classroom in collaboration with local primary schools. The aim is to get five to eleven-year-olds interested in, responding to and writing poetry through the medium of performance workshops led by inspirational poets. Our brief was to find an appropriate way to present and preserve the work of the children involved in the project. Having attended one of the poetry workshops and talked to the children’s teachers, we felt we’d like to design a book containing a contribution from or photograph of each child, so that everyone’s effort and involvement would be recognised. In format, the book is based on a volume of poetry. Content-wise, it is designed to be a visual record of the ‘Can I have a word?’ experience.