Who will buy this wonderful morning?
What a great way to kick off the new season, with the sumptuous Jaki Irvine installation at Frith Street gallery in Golden Square! But first, some introductions at Mary Ward were in order, where we shared the sounds of our mornings so far – waterfalls of jam jars, neighbours’ ablutions, radios, and traffic – and warmed our ears up with some blindfold listening. We considered the describing and transcribing of sound, looked at a some literary examples of soundy words, and shared some street cries from olden times –
“Buy a fine Singing Bird?”
Buy a fine singing Bird ?
Buy any wax or wafers ?
Fine Writeing Ink !
A Right Merry Song !
Old Shooes for some Broomes !
Then it was time to set off to Golden Square, ears pricked, and pens poised.
(Check out the ‘sounds of the city’ page to see what the day inspired).

Installation image: Se Compra: Sin é 2014 Jaki Irvine HD DVD 17 mins 37 seconds
Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London
Photos: Alex Delfanne
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About claire collison
Writer, photographer, creative facilitator, and breast cancer survivor, I am currently Artist in Residence at the Women's Art Library (WAL) My first novel was a finalist in the Dundee Book Prize, and my short stories and poetry have appeared in print and online. In 2015 I was awarded second place in the inaugural Resurgence Prize, the world's first eco poetry competition, judged by Sir Andrew Motion, Alice Oswald, and Jo Shapcott.
This blog began as a space for words generated on my walking/writing workshops at the Mary Ward centre in Bloomsbury - Writing the City (WTC).
WTC has since grown to include many other venues, including the Museum of Broken Relationships, the Barbican, the River Rom, Southwark Woods, Aylesbury Estate, and most recently, as part of Walking Women festival, An Intimate Tour of Breasts.
I have worked with Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, as the recipient of the first Max Reinhardt Literacy Award, designing teaching resources; and for The Photographers' Gallery, helping school children develop visual literacy as part of 'Seeing More Things'.
If you would like me to design a workshop or walk for you, please be in touch!