Connections and Conversations Through Poetry
The Word Weavers Collective
The Words Weavers Collective is a community of poets, storytellers, and creative thinkers who came together through a series of workshops exploring conversation, identity, and connection through poetry. What began as a research-informed project evolved into a vibrant, supportive network of writers from diverse cultural, ethnic, professional, and linguistic backgrounds.
As migrants, long-term residents, students, and professionals, members of the Collective bring layered lived experiences and perspectives to their work. Through shared verse, collaborative performance, and reflective dialogue, they weave individual stories into a broader tapestry of community. The Collective continues beyond the workshops as a space of mutual encouragement, creative experimentation, and meaningful conversation.
About the Workshops
The workshops were co-designed and co-delivered by Dr Yanyan LiLink opens in a new window and the Coventry Poet Laureate , bringing together research and creative practice in an interdisciplinary collaboration. Combining expertise in conversation analysis and contemporary poetry, they created an innovative model for accessible and creative research communication.
Designed to make academic research on conversation and social interaction publicly engaging, the workshops invited participants to explore how we take turns, hold silence, interrupt, listen, and repair misunderstandings, not through lectures, but through poetry.
Using methods such as folded poetry, embodied voicing, collaborative writing, and constructive feedback sessions, the programme fostered a brave and supportive space for co-creation. Participants became both poets and researchers of everyday interaction, discovering how the mechanics of conversation shape our sense of belonging, identity, and connection.
At their heart, the workshops demonstrate that research can be relational, creative, and community-rooted, transforming theory into lived, shared experience.
A Weaving Conversation
This anthology brings together the voices of the Words Weavers Collective in a woven conversation of poems shaped through dialogue, reflection, and shared creativity. Each piece emerged from collaborative workshops exploring connection, identity, and the subtle rhythms of everyday interaction.
More than a collection of individual works, the anthology is a collective tapestry, interlacing stories, languages, and lived experiences. It stands as both a creative outcome and a public expression of research made human, relational, and resonant.
Find out the full anthology: poetry anthologyLink opens in a new window
Poetry Performance
The poems in this anthology were brought to life in performance at the , where participants shared their voices and collaborative creations with a wider audience, turning research and reflection into a vibrant, communal experience.