How do we listen to the ancient world beneath our feet? How do museum collections, archaeological traces, and shamanic practices help us engage with the deep histories of our local landscapes - and how might poetry translate that knowledge into something that feels resonant today?
The Practice of Place brings together an extraordinary group of curators, poets, celebrants and and custodians of place to explore these questions.
Amanda Hart (Roman Baths, Bath) offers insight into the ritual, architectural and spiritual lives of our ancestors, drawing on one of the most iconic archaeological sites in the country. Kevin Ward (Museum in the Park) brings the Stroud district’s own artefacts, archives and material histories into the conversation, revealing how objects can act as portals into older ways of being. Kate Dineen considers how shamanic encounters can evoke a deeper sense of belonging with the land while poets Adam Horovitz, and JLM Morton respond through creative practice - translating landscape, myth and archaeology into language that moves between past and present, seen and unseen.
Together, this panel asks how poetry can become a form of heritage work: a way of honouring what has been lost, amplifying what remains, and imagining what might still be recovered. Expect a rich, layered discussion that moves from museum collections to fieldwork, from ancient ritual to contemporary ecological attention, and from the Dobunni past to the creative futures of our region. A gathering for anyone curious about how history lives in the land — and how poets help us hear it.
Chaired by Emma Kernahan. Lansdown Hall, Lansdown, Stroud GL5 1BB.
Kate Dineen is a celebrant, soul therapist and natural energy practitioner who draws upon archaeology and ritual to explore connections with landscape and awaken a depth of belonging. In recent years she has been intrigued by local Goddess Cuda as a portal to invoking a reciprocal - and ancestral - relationship with place.
Amanda Hart is Director of Archaeology & Art Roman Baths and Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. She leads the curatorial and engagement teams at the Roman Baths, Victoria Art Gallery and World Heritage Centre with a strategic focus on research, interpretation, conservation; and providing access to the remarkable collections of archaeology, art and social history at Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Adam Horovitz is a poet, performer and editor. He has published three collections of poetry, Turning, The Soil Never Sleeps and Love and Other Fairy Tales, a memoir, A Thousand Laurie Lees, and an album of poetry and music with Josef Reeve, Little Metropolis. He co-presented The Thunder Mutters, a podcast celebrating John Clare, with fiddle player Becky Dellow during lockdown. He appeared on Cerys Matthews and Hidden Orchestra’s album We Come From the Sun in 2021. His latest solo book, Slow Migrations, is out with Indigo Dreams (2025) and his recent collaboration with Ella Duffy Rock, Paper, Scissors (Dialect Press, 2026) is a Poetry Book Society Summer Pamphlet Choice.
JLM Morton’s poetry has appeared on BBC6 Music, in Poetry Review, Poetry London, Rialto, Magma, Mslexia and elsewhere. She’s won the Geoffrey Dearmer and Laurie Lee prizes and was highly commended by the Forward Prizes. Her debut collection is Red Handed (2024). Her second, Borrowed Ground, is forthcoming August 2026.
Kevin Ward is the Museum Development Manager at Stroud District Council. Kevin manages and advocates for all aspects of the Stroud District (Cowle) Museum Service, including collections management, visitor services, learning & public programmes.
Emma Kernahan is co-director of Dialect and is a short fiction and comedy writer with a background in support work.
How do we listen to the ancient world beneath our feet? How do museum collections, archaeological traces, and shamanic practices help us engage with the deep histories of our local landscapes - and how might poetry translate that knowledge into something that feels resonant today?
The Practice of Place brings together an extraordinary group of curators, poets, celebrants and and custodians of place to explore these questions.
Amanda Hart (Roman Baths, Bath) offers insight into the ritual, architectural and spiritual lives of our ancestors, drawing on one of the most iconic archaeological sites in the country. Kevin Ward (Museum in the Park) brings the Stroud district’s own artefacts, archives and material histories into the conversation, revealing how objects can act as portals into older ways of being. Kate Dineen considers how shamanic encounters can evoke a deeper sense of belonging with the land while poets Adam Horovitz, and JLM Morton respond through creative practice - translating landscape, myth and archaeology into language that moves between past and present, seen and unseen.
Together, this panel asks how poetry can become a form of heritage work: a way of honouring what has been lost, amplifying what remains, and imagining what might still be recovered. Expect a rich, layered discussion that moves from museum collections to fieldwork, from ancient ritual to contemporary ecological attention, and from the Dobunni past to the creative futures of our region. A gathering for anyone curious about how history lives in the land — and how poets help us hear it.
Chaired by Emma Kernahan. Lansdown Hall, Lansdown, Stroud GL5 1BB.
Kate Dineen is a celebrant, soul therapist and natural energy practitioner who draws upon archaeology and ritual to explore connections with landscape and awaken a depth of belonging. In recent years she has been intrigued by local Goddess Cuda as a portal to invoking a reciprocal - and ancestral - relationship with place.
Amanda Hart is Director of Archaeology & Art Roman Baths and Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. She leads the curatorial and engagement teams at the Roman Baths, Victoria Art Gallery and World Heritage Centre with a strategic focus on research, interpretation, conservation; and providing access to the remarkable collections of archaeology, art and social history at Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Adam Horovitz is a poet, performer and editor. He has published three collections of poetry, Turning, The Soil Never Sleeps and Love and Other Fairy Tales, a memoir, A Thousand Laurie Lees, and an album of poetry and music with Josef Reeve, Little Metropolis. He co-presented The Thunder Mutters, a podcast celebrating John Clare, with fiddle player Becky Dellow during lockdown. He appeared on Cerys Matthews and Hidden Orchestra’s album We Come From the Sun in 2021. His latest solo book, Slow Migrations, is out with Indigo Dreams (2025) and his recent collaboration with Ella Duffy Rock, Paper, Scissors (Dialect Press, 2026) is a Poetry Book Society Summer Pamphlet Choice.
JLM Morton’s poetry has appeared on BBC6 Music, in Poetry Review, Poetry London, Rialto, Magma, Mslexia and elsewhere. She’s won the Geoffrey Dearmer and Laurie Lee prizes and was highly commended by the Forward Prizes. Her debut collection is Red Handed (2024). Her second, Borrowed Ground, is forthcoming August 2026.
Kevin Ward is the Museum Development Manager at Stroud District Council. Kevin manages and advocates for all aspects of the Stroud District (Cowle) Museum Service, including collections management, visitor services, learning & public programmes.
Emma Kernahan is co-director of Dialect and is a short fiction and comedy writer with a background in support work.
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