Blog
Poetry Craft: What is a Golden Shovel?
As part of our Poetry Craft series, Catherine Smith discusses how to write a Golden Shovel poem. Can you explain what a Golden Shovel poem is? The ‘Golden Shovel’ is a poetic form, where the poet chooses a line from an existing poem and uses each word from that line as the last word of…
Catherine Smith
Stealing Fire: Learning from Female Poets
Ready to explore the transformative power of female poets? Our Stealing Fire workshops are designed for those inspired by feminist literature and the powerful voices of women in poetry. These workshops will guide you to understand the rich legacy of female voices. A focus on feminist and influential poets. Offering tools to sharpen your own…
Poetry School
CLIMATE POETRY: Blaise Sales and Jasper Rees, ‘Heat Stressed Moth’
A collaboration between the University of Leeds Poetry Centre and the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures
Poetry School
Break the Rules: Experimental & Playful Poetry
For young creatives, literary rebels, and experimental poets, these workshops challenge you to push the boundaries of poetry, embrace unconventional techniques, and play with form in exciting new ways. Ideal for experienced poets and alternative thinkers who are ready to break the rules and redefine poetry itself. Poems After Poems: Writing Ars Poetica – Leah…
Poetry School CLIMATE POETRY: Simon Armitage, ‘The Summit’
A collaboration between the University of Leeds Poetry Centre and the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures.
Poetry School
Poetry for Change & Personal Growth: Writing in Crisis & Finding Your Voice
Poetry has the power to heal, resist, and transform. Whether you’re writing to navigate personal challenges, address global crises, or find an expressive outlet, our workshops provide the space, support, and expert guidance to help you craft the best poetic response. Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis – Shazea Quraishi Explore how poetry…
Poetry School
How to: Get your Poetry Published
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 James Byrne on getting your poetry published. 1. How did you go about getting your first poem/pamphlet/collection published?…
James Byrne
How to Write Poetry: Poetry as Translation and Transformation
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 Carmen Bugan discussing the idea of poetry as translation and transformation. 1. Let’s start with Desert Island Poems….
Carmen Bugan
Freedom in Form: Challenge Your Poetry Boundaries
Are you ready to break free from traditional structures and explore the possibilities of poetry? Our Freedom in Form workshops are designed for poets who want to experiment, challenge conventions, and embrace forms of expression. This is your chance to redefine your creative process and take bold steps in your creative practice. With a focus…
Poetry School
Unsticking a Stuck Poet: Overcoming Writer’s Block
Feeling stuck? Our Unsticking a Stuck Poet workshops are designed for writers in need of fresh inspiration. These workshops provide practical strategies, prompts, and exercises to help you get back into your writing flow. Whether you’re looking for ways to break through mental barriers or just need a little guidance to get started, these courses…
Poetry School
Food, Family & Poetry: Writing Memory Through the Senses
Ready to explore the power of memory and sensory writing? Our Food, Family & Poetry workshops are designed for poets looking to connect deeply with history, storytelling and memory, exploring how the senses shape the stories we tell. COURSES: Around the Table: Writing about Food & Family with Romalyn Ante Explore how food and family…
Poetry School
Vanessa Kisuule on the Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective
For the second year running, The Poetry School have invited this year’s New Poets Collective to run a series of exciting courses with us. We’ve been chatting to Vanessa Kisuule, poet, performer, and lead tutor for the Collective, about the exciting scheme and what she looks for in applications. Read Vanessa’s thoughts below and check…
Vanessa Kisuule
Poetry as Response: Transreading & Translating
For poets interested in translation, transreading, and poetic response, these workshops explore how poetry can be transformed, adapted, and reimagined across languages and cultures. Learn to engage with poetry in new and dynamic ways, responding to existing works with fresh interpretations. Transitions, Translations, Transformations, Transreading – Carmen Bugan Explore the interplay between reading, translation, and…
Poetry School Poetry Workshops to Spark Creativity: Ritual, Style, and Everyday Inspiration
With our Southbank New Poets Collective Series of workshops. Spring is upon us, and there’s no better time to refresh your practice! Put a spring into your writing with our inspiring new lineup of workshops led by South Bank New Poets Collective, representing some of the most exciting new voices in the poetry of today…
Poetry School
Summer 2025 – Quick Course Guide
Poetry School Quick Course Guide for Summer 2025 Term
Sim Pereira-Madder New Poets Collective 2025 – Quick Course Guide
We are delighted to announce a new series of exciting zoom courses tutored by fresh voices from The New Poets Collective. Have a look at the below quick guide to this fantastic line up and make sure you book your place quickly to avoid disappointment! Video Courses Poetry & Divination: Generating Poems Through Ritual &…
Tessa Foley
How to: Writing, across the Seasons
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 Tice Cin discussing how to write about Winter. 1. How does the winter season influence your poetry? Do…
Tice
Poetry Queries: Can Poetry Be Taught? with Abbi Parcell
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry queries. Here’s Abbi Parcell discussing the idea of whether poetry can be taught.
Abbi Parcell
Summit Festival with Poet in Residence, Sammy Weaver
To celebrate our launch of the Laurel Prize 2025, we are proud to present a beautiful blog and four stunning new poems from our Summit Poet in Residence, Sammy Weaver. In October 2024, over two hundred people and over twenty leading poets gathered for Summit, our festival devoted to ecopoetry and nature writing, with our…
Beth Evans (Poetry School)
Explore Place, Fragmentation, and Identity: Transform Your Poetry in 2025
Poetry is a way to explore who we are, where we belong, and a means to create identity and meaning in a fragmented world. This season, we’re offering three transformative courses designed to deepen your craft and perspective: 1. Women, Writing, and Place Use your writing to explore personal identity and the intersections that shape us.In this…
Poetry School
Karen McCarthy Woolf – T.S. Eliot Writers’ Notes
Welcome to our Writers’ Notes for the 2024 T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist. These are educational resources for poets looking to develop their practice and learn from some of contemporary poetry’s most exciting and accomplished voices. Here’s Karen McCarthy Woolf on her book Top Doll. Top Doll took me the best part of a decade to complete, so…
Karen McCarthy Woolf
Where to Submit Your Poetry
You’ve just completed a Poetry School course and have written and edited a few new poems, so what now? Here are some places to publish and submit your poetry. Submitting your poems to a magazine, journal, or press is the first step to sharing your work with an audience and building up a readership, which…
Poetry School
How to: Get your Poetry Published
Expert Poetry Tutor Katrina Naomi’s guide on how to get your poetry published.
Katrina Naomi
Master Your Craft: Poetic Technique & Advanced Workshops
Ready to take your poetry to the next level? Our Master Your Craft workshops are designed for poets who want to push past the basics and dive deep into advanced techniques. Whether you’re looking to sharpen your skills, experiment with new forms, or refine your voice, these courses offer the guidance and tools you need…
Poetry School
End of Year Creative Push: Ancestors & Traditions
This winter, reconnect with your heritage through our End of Year Creative Push: Ancestors & Traditions courses. Designed for poets interested in honouring ancestral wisdom, cultural heritage, and poetic traditions, this series offers a reflective close to the year. Whether you’re drawn to Persian verse or Italian contemporary poetry, these courses invite you to enrich…
Poetry School