STRIPPED BACK WRITING - Naked writers have launched this year’s Bournemouth Writing Festival!

The Naked Writing Workshop, organised in partnership with British Naturism took place this week at Springbourne Library and saw participants from as far away as Edinburgh, Reading and Melksham follow in the footsteps of renowned authors like Victor Hugo, Benjamin Franklin, and Agatha Christie, who all believed in writing without the ‘distraction’ of clothes.

The private, ticket-only event was led by poet Jon Seagrave, aka Jonny Fluffypunk, a regular on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme.

He said: “Performing or teaching nude isn’t something I have done before, but after learning that the great Ernest Hemmingway and Victor Hugo practised nude writing, the invitation to lead the festival’s first ever Naked Writing Workshop was something I simply couldn’t pass up.

“I passionately encourage anyone to explore writing, in any medium, so I was intrigued by the concept of whether removing clothes can boost our creativity.

“I’ve got to say that after the initial nervousness I felt at stripping off, I found the whole experience surprisingly natural.

“Writing has a way of getting you to open up and show your inner thoughts and feelings, it’s honest and unfettered, a way of baring your soul, so the concept of naked writing makes perfect sense.

“I would definitely say that the group were engaged with what we talked about and explored – and they certainly wrote some beautiful poems. I feel that naked writing was an enlightening, creative and empowering experience for us all.”

Andrew Welch, spokesman for British Naturism said: “Social nudity is on the rise in the UK, and we were delighted to be involved in this new activity, giving people the choice to follow in the footsteps of such famous authors and find their creativity in a perhaps unexpected way."