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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

07 May 2026

Posted by Ellie Grant

Strange New Worlds

This week, we journeyed to the weird and wonderful land of
Lilliput. No, we’re not referring to Lilliput, Poole, we’re talking about a place
of fantasy legend. We took our writers to Jonathan Swift’s Lilliput, exploring
a series of writing prompts inspired by Gulliver’s Travels.

First, we responded to an illustration of Gulliver waking up
in Lilliput, surrounded by the six-inch-tall Lilliputians. There were some
brilliant questions from our youngest writers about how Gulliver had found
himself in such an unfortunate situation, while our older writers focused on
his immediate thoughts and feelings.

Then we asked the writers to create their own explorer and
annotate an outline of a person with their character’s looks and personality.
And, since every explorer needs a good toolkit, so they also had to think about
what equipment their character might have with them. In our 11-14 group, many
of the writers created modern explorers, kitted out with the latest trainers—perfect
for all that hiking!

The group then wrote about their explorer’s experience
waking up in the strange land of Lilliput. They really delved into the emotions
of their characters, with some feeling fearful, some excited, and some
tyrannical. We asked them to think about the perks of being a huge person in a
tiny world, as well as the challenges.









Then it was onto the second instalment of Gulliver’s
saga—his arrival in Brobdingnag, a terrifying land of giants. The writers then
had to imagine how this twist of fate would impact their characters. This
prompted some equally delightful adventure stories, including one where the
explorer arrived on the day of a huge hide and seek festival, and had to hide
out in an ant’s nest to avoid being squished. Unsurprisingly, several of the
Gulliver-inspired heroes met grisly ends in this activity, but there were one
or two who lived happily ever after in a dolls house. 

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