Kids’ Own held a free two-day poetry and print workshop at the Dock Arts Centre, Carrick on Shannon, on the 8th and 9th of June as part of the Wild Words Festival. The children worked with artist Vanya Lambrecht Ward and writer Mary Branley to make their own hand-printed books. On the first day, the children warmed up with a table full of shapes, folded their pages for their diamond concertina book, and explored ideas and drawings for their books and tried their hand at the first prints.

On the second day, whilst playing with shape and image, the children focused on the important words – garden, nature, play, me, and climate change which then became their own song, feeding their individual books with ideas and content. There were fish, cats, birds and friends making wheely yokes driving on long roads….The printing continued with full gusto and some say one of the books even had 99 pages!

Click through the photos below for more images from the two-day workshop!

The Wild Words Festival is a festival for children and young people to enjoy books and encourage an interest in creative writing, and it runs throughout the month of June. For more information and booking please see the Dock and Wild Words.