Lapidus News

I can’t believe that it’s 12 months since the planning team for this year’s conference first met. Time is flying towards Creative Bridges 2023 now and we are enjoying it so much that we have scheduled a final final meeting the day before the conference begins. The tech team also have their meeting very soon to test all of the Zoom links to ensure that you can enter seemlessly.

With less than eight weeks to go now preparations are well into the techncal production phase now and our planning team is getting excited to see you at the conference.  We are delighted that Helen iles has joined the planning group bringing a wealth of expertise as a film maker and writing practitioner.  Helen will help us bring you teasers of some of this year’s presentations.

Thank you very much again to those of you who submitted proposals for presentations and workshops for this year’s conference.  The fantastic news is that we were over-blessed with submissions. Creative Bridges is recognised as the place to share research, practice and innovation in the field of therapeutic writing.  The review team had an inspiring time reading all of those proposals.  However, their decisions were  tinged with sadness that some people would have their paper turned down. We are offering those people the opportunity to present at future Lapidus events, particularly LLRC.

June segues us into a new phase for our conference prepartions for Creative Bridges 2023.  Our early-bird ticket offers and calls for papers closed on 31st May.

We obviously still have tickets available but most of those will be at the full conference rates now.  Hop over to https://creativebridges.site to book your place.  However, if you would like to get hold of one of our bursary-rate places at £35 then do email me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. No hoops to jump through, no means testing, no questions asked, but bursaries will be allocated on a first come first serve basis, and those we have budgetted for may fly off the shelf. Do get in touch now.

Every year I wonder how did April emerge from February?  It’s thanks to March of course. And the year is certainly marching, flying even, towards Creative Bridges 2023, on 16th & 17th September. Our key note speakers are in place and both are very excited to be addressing the conference. Registrations are coming in and well done to those of you who took advantage of our early-bird offer.  Conference submissions are arriving and being reviewed.  CB2023’s foundations are in place and we look forward to you helping us complete that bridge to connect our worlds with words. If you have an interest in writing for wellbeing, or creative writing for therapeutic purposes, then this is the conference for you.

The Creative Bridges 2023 planning group is delighted to announce that we have secured our keynote speakers and can now formally announce them.  It is our pleasure to welcome Connor Allen and Mohsin Mohi Uh Din as our keynote speakers for the conference in September.

A keynote fulfils a number of overlapping roles. They can set the tone and promote the values of the conference at its opening; they can inform us about their work and help us make connections into the core of our work.  They can move, inspire, challenge and entertain such that we embrace the days with enthusiam and energy.

We have lift off.  

Flying to Bridge the World with Words

Since the conference planning group began meeting in August last year the months have flown past and on Friday 17th February we had a super boost of energy as one of our milestones was reached.  The call for papers and attendance registrations for Creative Bridges 2023 are open. A   key strength of Creative Bridges is that it truly is a collaborative effort by and for the membership of Lapidus International and those devoted to writing for wellbeing.  

Vibrant, connecting, exemplary brochure, epic open mic, soulful,  uplifting, warrior words.

Above are some of your comments about Creative Bridges 2021. In two days over three Zoom streams we packed in 40 CWTP researchers and practitioners to share their wisdom and experience for 160 delegates. We wrote, we listened, we shared, we connected online.

 As someone who is fairly new to this world of words for wellbeing, I was nervous, as well as excited, to be attending the Creative Bridges conference in Bristol this summer. So I appreciated it when the event opened with a reminder from the organisers to look after ourselves.

The emphasis on self-care continued in the opening session, on ‘Finding oneself in a different form’, run by Claire Williamson of Metanoia. In fact I was constantly reminded throughout the weekend of the importance of taking care of ourselves in order to help others – and also reminded that this is not just about setting boundaries and taking baths, but also acknowledging our pain.

Three days of talks, lectures and workshops in beautiful Småland

From 3-5 July, 2020, SmåBUS will be organizing the second International Children's and Young Adult Literature Conference in the heart of Småland, Sweden. This upcoming edition is themed around Inspiration & Responsibility and will involve a number of lectures, workshops, a museum visit, various children’s activities and an international illustrators’ exhibition. The organizers call it “an inspiring cultural movement working in the spirit of Astrid Lindgren.” Speakers include Flemish author Bart Moeyaert, laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2019, which is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for youth literature.”

I feel really lucky to have been at the Mslexicon event in Leeds last weekend (12^th/13^th July). It was a dynamic and supportive conference for women who write and I can honestly say I have never experienced anything like it in my life before.

The Educating Creatively conference is a brand new creative conference for education, cultural and creative professionals, teachers, artists and practitioners. The conference will explore and celebrate creative education, incorporating cultural practice into education, the study of creative practices, and the connection between those and wellbeing. This will be a space to bring together creative and education practitioners to celebrate, share and learn.Conference is in Chester at Storyhouse 

CALL FOR PAPERS NOW OPEN UNTIL MARCH 31st! Submit below.

This year I was a first time attendee at the NAPT Annual Conference and this was my first time in America. The theme of the conference was Poetry Therapy in a changing world: Pathways to Growth, Healing and Social Justice and was held at the Conference Centre in Chaska, Minneapolis.