Meet the writer Sarah Acton
Event WebsiteSarah Acton is the Quay Words writer-in-residence for our summer ‘Vessels’ season.
Sarah is approaching our Vessels theme by through the lens of body – Bodies of Water/ Vessel of Message. Virginia Woolf said that when walking, ‘my story would begin telling itself,’ walking the streets of London to generate dynamic language, characters and plots. Perhaps she walked to actively think and make sense of life, or perhaps find inspiration and peace in the physicality and freedom being outdoors in the shared urban world. Sarah’s jumping off point is inspired by this quote and a nod to older bardic tradition, during this residency Sarah is exploring what ideas might compose themselves by walking a repeated route outdoors in a city shaped by its proximity to water and sea roads, speaking to old and new connections to this place.
Exploring the Quay through a combination of quayside walks and encounters on scheduled residency days, alongside writing at the Custom House, Sarah will respond and weave in research, delving into histories of selected vessels in the local heritage archives.
Sarah writes:
“I am excited to spend time at the quayside thinking vessels and look forward to listening to its voices and memories while making new connections, seeing what may be revealed at the residency writing desk after walking practice outdoors. This is a new project with space to dig into new writing and also research historical material alongside exploration into how the physicality of walking may flesh out ideas and lines, and how the memory of this place may walk itself into these.”
There will be an interactive residency writing desk set up at the Custom House upstairs where any local writers are invited to drop by and enjoy the desk for their own writing. On the desk Sarah will also leave maps and traces of her walking routes, prompts and a journal/ comments book to suggest ideas or reflections. Sarah is interested to hear from anyone who would like to pop by and share memories of working or leisure vessels in the quay and harbour waters.
Sarah’s days on site will be Tuesdays 9th, 16th, 24th and 30th July. You could join her for her 9.30am walk then from 10.30am to 4.30pm she will be at the public writer’s desk and anyone is welcome to come and say hello and write alongside.
