Hanan Issa is a Welsh-Iraqi poet, filmmaker, and artist. Her publications include her poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts and Welsh [Plural]: Essays on the Future of Wales. Her winning monologue With Her Back Straight was performed at the Bush Theatre as part of the Hijabi Monologues. She is part of the writersroom for Channel 4’s award-winning series We Are Lady Parts. Hanan is co-founder of the Where I’m Coming From open mic series. She was the recipient of the 2020 Ffilm Cymru/ BBC Wales commission for her short film The Golden Apple. She is the current National Poet of Wales and 2022 Hay International Fellow.
Cross-Nation Poetry Residential Course: Travelling Between Voices
Mon 16 November 2026 - Fri 20 November 2026
Tutors
/ Hanan Issa & Peter Mackay
Guest Reader
/ Guest Reader
Course Fee
/
From
£ per person
Genre
/ Poetry
Language
/ English
Join Hanan Issa and Peter Mackay for Travelling Between Voices, a cross-nation residential poetry course presented in partnership by Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre and Moniack Mhor. Taking place first in Wales (November 2026) and then in Scotland (May 2027), these twin courses will be rooted in their distinct landscapes yet connected by shared themes of language, identity, place and poetic responsibility. Through this groundbreaking partnership, the Welsh and Scottish National Writing Centres look to bridge identities, communities and landscapes through poetry and creativity.
At Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, the tutors will be bringing together Gaelic, Welsh, English and Arabic traditions. The two national laureates will explore what it means to write from and for a place, as well as for a moment. From commemorating national milestones to responding to the climate crisis, they will examine the poet’s role as chronicler and change-maker, and the enduring power of creativity and literature to document our times and shape public conversation and political thought. Set in the Welsh landscape, participants will be encouraged to draw inspiration from the surroundings. Mid-week, an acclaimed guest poet will also join the group for a special reading and conversation.
This poetry course welcomes poets who are experienced, mid-career, or serious about developing their craft. Together, we will interrogate how language choice shapes artistic expression, and how working in or alongside a minoritised language can sharpen voice and deepen belonging. There will be workshops, thought-provoking exercises and discussion, alongside opportunities to receive insightful and constructive feedback on your own writing.
Tutors
Hanan Issa
Peter Mackay
Originally from the Isle of Lewis, Peter Mackay is a Professor in Literature at the University of St Andrews and is an expert in Scottish and Irish literature from 1800 onwards, especially in Scottish Gaelic literature. He has written two monographs, This Strange Loneliness: Heaney's Wordsworth (McGill-Queen's 2021) and Sorley MacLean (RIISS 2010). An anthology he edited with Iain S MacPherson, An Leabhar Liath: 500 years of Gaelic Love and Transgressive Verse (Luath 2015) won the Donald Meek Prize for Gaelic literature and the Saltire Scottish Research Book of the Year; another anthology co-edited with Jo MacDonald, 100 Dàn as Fheàrr Leinn / 100 Favourite Gaelic Poems won the Duais Ruaraidh MhicThòmais in 2021. His poetry collections Gu Leòr / Galore (Acair 2015) and Nàdur de / Some Kind of (Acair 2020) were shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year; Nàdur de was also longlisted for the Highland Book Prize. An AHRC / BBC Next Generation Thinker, he is a frequent broadcaster on Radio 3 and BBC Radio nan Gàidheal. In 2024 he was appointed Scottish Makar.
Guest Reader
Guest Reader
The guest reader for this course will be announced soon