Explore the heart of Edinburgh through a guided poetry workshop exploring geopoetics.

This outdoor workshop, as part of the Curious festival, will explore geopoetics – a movement exploring interdisciplinary ways of understanding the Earth and humanity’s place within it.

Inspired by the ideas featured in the film ‘Expressing the Earth’, which has a screening earlier in the day, this workshop will take you into nature in the centre of Edinburgh at Princes Street Gardens. Led by Norman Bissell and Patrick Corbett, the session will introduce writing haiku poetry before inviting participants to create their own short poems in the beautiful surroundings of Princes Street Gardens.

If you'd like to share your haiku, there will be an opportunity to read it aloud and submit it for possible publication in Stravaig, the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics’ online journal.

There are limited places for this workshop so if you do book a ticket and can no longer make it, please cancel your ticket or reach out to curious@therse.org.uk to let us know so others can enjoy the workshop in your place.

Important points to note

This event is suitable for age 16+

The meeting point for this workshop is the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22 George Street, EH2 2PQ where we will then lead you down to Princes Street Gardens. The RSE will provide pens and paper for the poetry workshop. We recommend wearing suitable, comfortable clothing and shoes for outdoor wear.

Event format: This event is a workshop and may involve some audience interaction. This could involve group activities, individual activities, quizzes or hands-on activities.

Filming: Photography may take place at this event. Please let a member of the RSE Public Engagement team know if you do not want to be photographed.

SPEAKER

Professor Patrick Corbett FRSE

Co-Director Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, Prof Emeritus, Heriot-Watt University

Prof Patrick Corbett is a retired Professor of Petroleum Geoengineering at Heriot-Watt University. He spent ten years in the oil industry working as a geologist in the UK, Netherlands and Indonesia. He has a PhD and DSc from Heriot-Watt University in Petroleum Engineering. He served as Head of the Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Head of the Energy Academy, Court Member and Watt Club Vice-President whilst at Heriot-Watt. He is a Fellow of the RSE. He has served on the Board of the Scottish Poetry Library and is a member of the School of Poets there. He is a Trustee of the Burngate Purbeck Stone Centre in Dorset. He is now a geopoet and Co-Director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics.

SPEAKER

Norman Bissell

Honorary President, Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, Film Producer

Norman Bissell is an author and the recently retired Director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics. His acclaimed poetry collection Slate, Sea and Sky and novel Barnhill about George Orwell’s last years are published by Luath Press. His latest creative non-fiction book Living on an Island Expressing the Earth tells how he came from Glasgow to live on the Isle of Luing in Argyll and about his outstanding contribution to geopoetics over many years.

He has considerable experience of providing talks and creative writing workshops at all levels and he successfully crowdfunded and raised sponsorship to make the award winning film Expressing the Earth. As its producer, he has taken part in Q&As and is arranging screenings of the film throughout the UK and internationally.

About the Curious festival

The RSE’s free Curious festival of knowledge is back, from Saturday 5 − Sunday 13 September 2026!

Curious is Scotland’s annual festival of knowledge. Across its seven-year history, Curious has welcomed over 10,000 attendees into its yearly programme of talks, workshops, discussions and exhibitions – all covering different topics and subject areas. There’s no need for you to have any prior specialist knowledge before coming along, just bring your curious self! With plenty of events both in person and online, you can take part from anywhere.

You can check out the full programme of events here.

Accessibility

We aim to make events as accessible as possible. If you have any accessibility requirements or have any questions related to how we can support this event, please contact curious@theRSE.org.uk. Accessibility information for the RSE building can be found on our website.

Step-free access: Ramped access for visitors is available via 26 George Street through Lakeland. Upon arrival, please call 0131 240 5000 and a member of staff will meet you and guide you to the event. Please note that the entrance ramp has a steep gradient (1:12).

The Princes Street Gardens can be accessed step-free but ramps may be steep. You can check out Euan's guide for reviews on the access routes.

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