Tessa FoleyBlog
All of our Blog Posts
How to: Captivate with Picture Books
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry and its place in their world. These interviews will cover creative writing tips, excelling in a poetry workshop, building a literary career, and finding your poetic voice. Here’s Kathryn Simmonds on how to captivate with picture books. Are there key differences between writing for adults and…
Kathryn Simmonds
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Isabelle Baafi ‘Piggy’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Isabelle Baafi on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Piggy’ in Chaotic Good. PIGGY From Horror…
Isabelle Baafi
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Catherine-Esther Cowie on ‘Mimorian’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Catherine-Esther Cowie on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Mimorian’ in Heirloom. In Another Language ‘Mimorian’…
Catherine-Esther Cowie
The Art of Poetic Experimentation: Push Boundaries, Break Forms, Find Freedom
For poets who love to play, innovate, and challenge the limits of form, our experimental poetry courses are an invitation to risk, reimagine, and reinvent. These courses celebrate unpredictability, genre-bending approaches, and wild creative impulses – perfect for those looking to spark something new. Whether you’re working in collage, constraint, visual poetry, or hybrid forms,…
Poetry School
Carol Watts – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Carol Watts on her collection Mimic Pond. I’ve written poetry as far back as I can remember….
Carol Watts
Katrina Porteous – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Katrina Porteous on her collection Rhizodont. Networks of Nature Communities and Commissions I did not set out…
Katrina Porteous
Eliza O’Toole – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Eliza O’Toole on her collection A Cranic of Ordinaries. Writing as the tip of the iceberg How…
Eliza O'ToolePoems
Curated Poems, chosen by The Poetry School Staff.
Jacqueline Saphra
Catherine Smith
Alisa Havrylchenko
Serhii Rybnytskyi
Myroslav Herasymovych
Vitalij Kvitka
Lyuba Yakimchuk
Oleh Shynkarenko
Vyacheslav Huk
Steve Komarnyckyj
Chrissy Williams
vilde b. torset
Ben Rhys Palmer
Rasha Al Duwaisan
Mason Jabbari
Maggie Sawkins
Sarah Westcott
Zahra
Jasmine Chatfield
Anna Selby
Charlotte Baldwin
Amelia Loulli
JR Carpenter – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s JR Carpenter on their collection Measures of Weather. How and where do you write? Do you have…
J. R. Carpenter
Judith Beveridge – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Judith Beveridge on her collection Tintinnabulum. I always write at home in a garage that I have…
Judith Beveridge
Beginners & Emerging Poets
Starting out in poetry? Ready to find your voice, learn the craft, and join a vibrant writing community? These courses offer welcoming, supportive structures designed to help you build confidence, learn foundational skills, and start shaping your poetic identity. Whether you’re new to poetry or returning after a break, these courses will help you grow…
Poetry School
Writing After Rimbaud: How Reading the Greats Can Transform Your Poetry
Stav Poleg discusses how to take inspiration and influence from iconic writers such as Rimbaud and use it to elevate your own poetic craft. What drew you to writing in response to other poets’ work? Do you remember the first time you tried it? I’ve always considered the practice of writing as simultaneously an act…
Stav Poleg
Mastery & Momentum: Advanced Poetry Courses & Masterclasses
For poets ready to refine their craft, challenge their assumptions, and elevate their practice, these courses are rigorous, inspiring spaces to grow. With expert tutors, peer feedback, and a focus on form, innovation, and poetic theory, these courses are designed for serious writers seeking momentum, publication, and creative breakthroughs. Many courses are by application—see below…
Poetry School
Poetry as Practice: Ritual, Care, & Craft
Poetry is more than art—it’s a practice of presence, healing, and deep attention. These courses explore poetry as a lived experience: a ritual, a response to crisis, a means of caring for self and others, and a space to reflect, remember, and restore. Whether you’re navigating grief, exploring care ethics, or weaving poetic ritual into…
Poetry School
Form, Freedom, & Falling Leaves
Master the art of poetry this Autumn 2025. Explore sonnets, structured forms, advanced workshops, and peer feedback in expert-led online courses. Autumn is a season of structure and study. As the days shorten and routines return, it’s the perfect time to deepen your poetic practice. Whether you’re new to form or ready to refine your…
Poetry School
How to: Write About Climate Crisis
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry and its place in their world. These interviews will cover creative writing tips, excelling in a poetry workshop, building a literary career, and finding your poetic voice. Here’s Elizabeth Torres (Madam Neverstop) on how to write about climate crisis. How do you see poetry’s role in…
Elizabeth Torres (Madam Neverstop)
Beyond Representation: Supporting Global Majority Writers in a Demanding Literary Landscape
As part of our Poetry Craft series, Louisa Adjoa Parker discusses how to support global majority writers in a demanding literary landscape through poetry. What are some craft strategies you use to elevate personal or political content into work that also speaks artistically or universally? I am very much what I describe as an ‘intuitive…
Louisa Adjoa Parker
CLIMATE POETRY: Kate Simpson and James Ford, ‘Adaptation Gap’
Poets have long used their craft to reframe issues, convey emotion and share ideas, and climate change is an increasing feature of poetry shared across the world. To mark the launch of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures last year, our partners, the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, paired University of Leeds poets with Priestley Centre climate…
Poetry School
Global Poetics: Transreading, Translation & the World in Verse
Poetry is borderless. Language flows across landscapes, cultures, and histories – and these courses celebrate that flow. From ekphrasis and multilingual writing to translation as transformation, these courses invite you to write beyond the boundaries of nation, genre, and tongue. Whether you’re translating visual art, echoing ancestral voices, or remixing texts from other cultures, these…
Poetry School
How to: Deal With Rejection
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry and its place in their world. These interviews will cover creative writing tips, excelling in a poetry workshop, building a literary career, and finding your poetic voice. Here’s Rachel Bower on how to deal with rejection. Can you share an experience where you faced rejection of…
Rachel Bower
Writing Through the Turning Year: Seasonal Poetry Courses for Autumn and Beyond
As the light wanes and the air grows crisp, now is the time to reflect, regenerate, and root down into poetic practice. Whether you’re seeking mythic inspiration, ecological insight, or a shift in creative energy, these autumn-ready poetry courses will ignite your imagination and carry you into the darker months with purpose. These seasonal poetry…
Jasmine Ward
Open Call: Poet-in-Residence at the Laurel Prize Weekend 2025
Poetry School invites applications for an early or mid-career poet to be our Poet-in-Residence at the Laurel Prize weekend, on 19 and 20 September 2025. APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED The Laurel Prize was established by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage in 2019 in association with Poetry School. It is an annual award for the best collection…
Beth Evans (Poetry School)
Five Women Poets You Should Be Reading Right Now
Clare Pollard who teaches our popular course Learning from Female Poets recommends her top five women poets you should be reading right now. 1. One contemporary woman poet. I’m reading Diane Seuss’ Modern Poetry at the moment and absolutely loving it. It’s the sort of poetry that makes me jealous. I read a couple of…
Clare Pollard
Autumn 2025 – Quick Course Guide
Our Autumn Term is now live! We have a whole host of brilliant tutors and poetry courses ready for you to pick from and, as they tend to sell out really fast, we’ve made this Autumn 2025 Quick Course Guide to help guide you to the right course. Online Courses INTERNATIONAL Online courses without Live…
Beth Evans (Poetry School)
How to: Feedback, Originality, & Ownership in Poetry Workshops with Matthew Caley (part 2)
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry and its place in their world. These interviews will cover creative writing tips, excelling in a poetry workshop, building a literary career, and finding your poetic voice. Here’s part 2 of Matthew Caley discussing feedback, originality & ownership in workshops. You can read part 1 of…
Matthew Caley
Ten of the Best Books on Writing Poetry
We’ve collated some of the best books on writing poetry – there are a lot of different insights to help with your poetry practice, no matter what stage you’re at. How to Write it by Anthony Anaxagorou This book is a masterclass in the craft of writing and poetry, infused with tips, anecdotes and publishing…
Poetry School