Posts By: Ali Lewis
Pub Chats: Bad Betty Press
Welcome to Pub Chats, our series of interviews about the nuts and bolts of publishing with some of the country’s most innovative indie presses. Joining us for a chat and a drink today is Amy Acre of Bad Betty Press. Hello there! What are you drinking? I like a bit of everything, but it’s 4pm…
Ali Lewis
Summer 2018 Courses Quick Guide
The Summer 2018 Term is now open for booking! We are delighted to open the booking period for the final term of our 20th anniversary year at the Poetry School. Remember that new students get 15% off all courses, just give us a call to get your discount! Concessions are available, and applications for bursaries –…
Ali Lewis
‘Letting Your Avant-Garde Down’ – An Interview with Caleb Parkin
Ahead of his new course in Bristol, Letting Your Avant-Garde Down, we spoke to this year’s National Poetry Competition second prize winner Caleb Parkin. Ali Lewis: Hi Caleb! You’re running a new five-week course with us called Letting Your Avant-Garde Down. Can you tell us a bit about it? Caleb Parkin: The term ‘avant-garde’ is a…
Ali Lewis
Spring 2018 Course Quick Guide
Spring Term 2018 is now open for booking! We are delighted to open the booking period for the second term of our 20th anniversary year at the Poetry School. Feast your eyes on our forthcoming line-up of brilliant courses and workshops, and start planning your new year of poetry writing! Remember that new students get 15%…
Ali Lewis
Artwork by John Sheehy from our ‘Drawing Poetry’ Residency at Centre for Recent Drawing
Throughout August, six poet-artists took part in our ‘Drawing Poetry’ residency with the Centre for Recent Drawing. Sria Chatterjee, John Sheehy, Eleanor Penny, Claire Collison, Neringa Dastoor, and Iris Colomb spent a month in the studio at C4RD and attended workshops with poets Holly Corfield Carr and Chris McCabe, and artist Jamie John James Jenkinson,…
Ali Lewis
Summer School Mini-Interview Chain: Rachel Long interviews Jane Yeh
For the final link of our Summer School mini-interview chain, Rachel Long’s questions are answered by Jane Yeh, tutor of Writing a Flat-Pack Poem. Rachel: How do you want people to read your poems? Jane: It’s amazing to know that people read one’s poems at all, so first I’m just excited at the prospect! I hope that…
Ali Lewis Summer School Mini-Interview Chain: Rishi Dastidar interviews Rachel Long
In this third instalment of our Summer School Mini-Interview Chain, Rishi Dastidar ‘interviews’ Rachel Long, tutor of our upcoming course, The Berlin Lens. Rishi did not know who he was interviewing, and Rachel didn’t know who she was being interviewed by! Rishi: What’s the book you re-read or re-visit the most? Rachel: Ten: The New Wave The Complete…
Ali Lewis Summer School Mini-Interview Chain: Richard Scott interviews Rishi Dastidar
In this second instalment of our Summer School mini-series, Richard Scott’s questions are answered by Rishi Dastidar, tutor of our upcoming course ‘The Minimum Viable Poem‘. Richard: Tell me about a piece of visual art which you love and that might inspire or has inspired a poem . . . Rishi: Mondrian’s ‘Victory Boogie Woogie’, for…
Ali Lewis Summer School Mini-Interview Chain: Jane Yeh interviews Richard Scott
Ahead of our Summer School at the end of July, we asked the participating tutors to take part in an interview chain. Each tutor asks three questions, and in turn is asked three questions by another tutor. None of the tutors had any idea who they were interviewing, or who was interviewing them. In this…
Ali Lewis
‘Drawing Poetry’: An Experimental Residency – Call for Applications!
‘Drawing Poetry’: An Experimental Residency with The Poetry School and the Centre for Recent Drawing. The Poetry School and the Centre for Recent Drawing are seeking applicants for a new experimental research and practice residency. The residency aims to explore the intersection and cross-pollination of poetry and drawing, and provide an opportunity for creative research,…
Ali Lewis
Autumn 2017: Course Quick Guide
Autumn Term 2017 is now open for booking! The opening of this new academic year marks the beginning of our 20th anniversary year: a year in which we’ll be celebrating two decades of making poetry happen with exciting events, our festival partnership with Poetry in Aldeburgh, and, of course, brilliant courses, workshops, tutorials and opportunities to…
Ali Lewis
Your National Writing Day ‘One-Breath Poems’
For National Writing Day last week, we asked people to write ‘One-Breath Poems‘ – fastpaced, free-flowing poems to be read on one lungful of air – and the response has been fantastic! Following on from the sterling efforts of the children at Chew Valley Primary School, the students of Rugby High School, and their teacher Olga…
Ali Lewis
‘The One-Breath Poem’: National Writing Day Activity for Parents, Teachers and Children
Whether you’re a parent, teacher, young person or adult writer, celebrate National Writing Day with our ‘One-Breath Poem’ resource. It’s perfect for a classroom activity or spare 15 minutes with a pen and paper, and it’s a fantastic way into the wide wonderful world of poetry. Download it here: One-Breath-Poem-The-Poetry-School Stuck for inspiration? Why not have…
Ali Lewis
1215.today Poet-in-Residence Round Up: Week 3
On Monday, our 1215.today poet-in-residence Remi Graves wrote about ‘Word and Image: exploring the interplay of poetry and art‘, and covered such varied ground as Theresa May’s tweets, the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and snapchat. On Tuesday, Remi looked at a new and striking artwork / poem by Jörg Piringer, and challenged her readers to “play…
Ali Lewis 1215.today Residency Round-Up: Week 2
Our 1215.today poet-in-residence Remi Graves kicked off the week talking about ‘subversion’ – in poetry and art – and the (not-so-noble) history of Magna Carta. On Tuesday, Remi ‘Haiku-ised’ the famous Clause 40, and on Wednesday she explored the art of Yinka Shonibare, which “subverts his role as an outsider as a Nigerian-British and disabled artist,…
Ali Lewis 1215.today Poet-in-Residence Remi Graves: Residency Round-Up. Week One
Our new Poetry School 1215.today digital poet-in-residence Remi Graves has had an amazingly productive first week, posting six (!) articles, including playlists and poems. Here’s a taster of what she’s been up to: 14/05: Asking Our New Poet-in-Residence the Questions That Really Matter: “What was the first poem you had a real connection with? “Elizabeth Bishop’s…
Ali Lewis
Primers Volume Two: On Sale Now!
On Sunday, The Poetry School and Nine Arches Press launched the wonderful Primers Volume Two at the Birmingham Literature Festival. The collection, featuring work from Cynthia Miller, Marvin Thompson and Ben Bransfield, and edited by Jacob Sam-La Rose and Jane Commane, is on sale now and available to purchase from Nine Arches Press. GET YOUR…
Ali Lewis
Tales of the Globe: Interview with Karen Whiteson
Your upcoming course for us is called Tales of the Globe, could you tell us a little bit about it? It is a 5 week course which will be stretched to bursting point in an attempt to contain its material. The main intention is to map some of the connections and differences between that body…
Ali Lewis
#Afterhours: An Interview with Inua Ellams
An Interview with Inua Ellams
‘I think, arguably, all poems are response poems and attempts by the poet to find or claim personal space in any given topic.’
Ali Lewis
20% Off PBS Membership For Poetry School Students
We’re delighted to announce a new partnership with the Poetry Book Society, offering all students who book a Summer 2017 course with The Poetry School 20% off all categories of PBS membership: charter, associate and full. Set up by T S Eliot and friends in 1953 ‘to propagate the art of poetry’, the Poetry Book…
Ali Lewis
‘Me, Myself and (Not) I’: An Interview with Saradha Soobrayen
Ahead of her Spring Term course ‘Me, Myself and (Not) I‘, we caught up with poet Saradha Soobrayen. AL: Hi Saradha. Your new course with us is called ‘Me, Myself and (Not) I’. Could you tell us what prompted the ideas for the course? SS: Last year I was working on the Poetry Library’s Open…
Ali Lewis
Mixed Borders: Poet in Residence Training – Apply Now!
Lover of flowers and/or vegetables? Want some poet-in-residence training? Read on, we have an opportunity for you! For the last two years, the Poetry School and London Parks and Gardens Trust have teamed up for a poet-in-residence training scheme centred on London’s Gardens. We call the scheme ‘Mixed Borders’. “I felt like the training greatly…
Ali Lewis
The Poetry School Books of the Year 2016
Although not, by popular consensus, a brilliant year generally, 2016 has been a good year for poetry: sales of poetry books topped £10m for the first time, a poet – Warsan Shire – featured on Beyonce’s latest album, Penguin reopened its poetry list, and, for the second year in a row, the Forward Prizes were…
Ali Lewis
Derivatives, Reflection, Homage: An Interview with Róisín Tierney
The Michael Marks Award-winning poet Róisín Tierney will be running our Spring 2017 course ‘Derivatives, Reflection, Homage‘. We caught up with her for a chat about the course, and what she’s up to at the moment. Hi Róisín. Your new course with us is called ‘Derivatives, Reflection, Homage’. Could you tell us a little bit about your…
Ali Lewis
‘Say it with a poem’: 9 poems with a message for National Poetry Day
To celebrate National Poetry Day 2016, we asked nine of our brilliant Poetry School tutors for poems with a message to share with the world. And here they all are! To see full details of each of the poems, click here.
Ali Lewis