A Creative Writing Workshop at Warwick University with A.L. Kennedy and an Austringer by David Morley

About two years ago, Alison Kennedy and I talked about bringing a falconer to Warwick to talk about falconry and birds and prey. The connections between writing and flying and preying concern being unselfconscious in action, focussed on a target without distraction or apprehension, and about confidence and craft in movement and life. Two days ago, Brian arrived with his partner Gill along with a borrowed Gyrfalcon, his Scops Owl, his two Harrier Hawks and a Peruvian Barn Owl. The seminar covered the behaviour and life cycle of these birds, and the elements of falconry and bird craft and lore. Brian is an Austringer, not a Falconer, a distinction as important as between being a Poet and a Playwright...