Face-to-Face Courses

Write more poems

Face-to-face teaching has been at the core of our educational programme since 1997. Running three terms a year both in our London classrooms and regional centres across the UK, our face-to-face courses and workshops have helped countless poets find encouragement for their work and allowed their poetry to flourish.

On our face-to-face courses, a group of students meet on a regular basis with their tutor to read their own work, discuss poetry, and – session by session – develop new skills and confidence as poet. We offer a breadth of approach to learning poetry, with some courses focusing on form and technique, whilst others look to provide inspiration for generating new writing or offer close readings of certain poets or movements.

The longest courses we offer stretch over three terms (general, covering a wide variety of skills and subjects) and the shortest courses we offer are one-day workshops (specific, looking at specialist subjects and techniques).

All our Face-to-Face Courses

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Tutor: Ali Lewis (The Poetry School)

WRITE AHEAD: Free Introductory Workshop

Want to be a poet? Go Write Ahead.

Start Date: November 16, 2018 7pm
End Date: November 16, 2018 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

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Tutor: Joe Dunthorne

The Portable Generator

Join this intensive writing day with acclaimed novelist and Faber poet, Joe Dunthorne!

Start Date: November 17, 2018 10.30am
End Date: November 17, 2018 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

The Big Idea: Building The Sonnet Sequence

£72.00 *

Tutor: Jacqueline Saphra

The Big Idea: Building The Sonnet Sequence

What could be better than a sonnet? A sonnet sequence!

Start Date: November 24, 2018 10.30am
End Date: November 24, 2018 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£72.00 *

Tutor: Miriam Darlington

The Spell of the Sensuous

Use your senses to bring poems alive.

Start Date: December 1, 2018 10.30am
End Date: December 1, 2018 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£171.00 *

Tutor: Wayne Holloway-Smith

Pamphlet / Portfolio (Spring 2019)

Take your work to the next level and develop your portfolio

Start Date: January 14, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 18, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£171.00 *

Tutor: Shazea Quraishi

The Poet’s Toolkit (Spring 2019)

Explore poetry's inner workings, hone your craft, and look at various techniques to help your poems achieve lift-off

Start Date: January 14, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 18, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

The Wood for the Trees: Significant Poets of the British Isles (Reading Course)

£171.00 *

Tutor: Glyn Maxwell

The Wood for the Trees: Significant Poets of the British Isles (Reading Course)

Explore forty poets from Old English to the mid-twentieth century

Start Date: January 15, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 19, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Nothing Beyond Routine Greatness: Speechwriting and Poetry

£90.00 *

Tutor: Alex MacDonald

Nothing Beyond Routine Greatness: Speechwriting and Poetry

Borrow the tools and tricks of oration to deliver persuasive poems

Start Date: January 15, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 12, 2019 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Special Guests Tues AM (Spring 2019)

£171.00 *

Tutor: Kathryn Maris

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Special Guests Tues AM (Spring 2019)

One of our flagship advanced workshops, with the added perk of special guests each term.

Start Date: January 15, 2019 11am
End Date: March 19, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£90.00 *

Tutor: Miriam Darlington

The Poetic Sequence (Exeter)

Find out why and how poets group their poems, and what makes a successful grouping

Start Date: January 16, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 13, 2019 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Exeter Community Centre, Exeter

Intermediate Poetry Workshop (Spring 2019)

£171.00 *

Tutor: Tim Dooley

Intermediate Poetry Workshop (Spring 2019)

A weekly workshop for poets looking to develop their individual voice and technique, run by the inimitable Tim Dooley

Start Date: January 16, 2019 2pm
End Date: March 27, 2019 ( 71 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£171.00 *

Tutor: Jacqueline Saphra

Poem, Prompt, Pick & Mix (Spring 2019)

Mix up your writing and learn new skills and techniques with Jacqueline Saphra

Start Date: January 16, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 20, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron (Spring 2019)

£171.00 *

Tutor: Mark Waldron

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron (Spring 2019)

Develop your writing through discussion and feedback in this advanced workshop with Mark Waldron

Start Date: January 16, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 20, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Special Guests (Thurs PM, Spring 2019)

£171.00 *

Tutor: Kathryn Maris

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Special Guests (Thurs PM, Spring 2019)

One of our flagship advanced workshops, with the added perk of special guests each term

Start Date: January 17, 2019 2pm
End Date: March 21, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£90.00 *

Tutor: Simon Barraclough

Downriver

Navigate the secrets of rivers real and imagined

Start Date: January 17, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 14, 2019 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price (Spring 2019)

£171.00 *

Tutor: Richard Price

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price (Spring 2019)

Develop your writing through discussion and feedback in this advanced workshop

Start Date: January 18, 2019 11am
End Date: March 22, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

The Light Room: Poetry & Photography's Intersections

£144.00 *

Tutor: sjfowler

The Light Room: Poetry & Photography's Intersections

Explore the light and dark of poems to develop new ways of seeing

Start Date: January 19, 2019 10.30am
End Date: January 20, 2019 ( 2 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£90.00 *

Tutor: Roy Mcfarlane

Poetry as a Witness (Birmingham)

How do we bear witness in the re-telling of events?

Start Date: January 19, 2019 12pm
End Date: March 16, 2019 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Pen Museum, Birmingham

£171.00 *

Tutor: Meryl Pugh

First Encounters (Spring 2019)

Take your first steps into the world of poetry!

Start Date: January 24, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 28, 2019 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£90.00 *

Tutor: Chrissy Williams

What Is a Poem?

Interrogate the boundaries of the genre in these friendly, fruitful workshops

Start Date: January 24, 2019 6.45pm
End Date: March 21, 2019 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£72.00 *

Tutor: Karen Whiteson

Origins of the Golem

Trace the generative parallels between the Judaic golem and writing poetry

Start Date: January 26, 2019 10.30am
End Date: January 26, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£90.00 *

Tutor: William Wootten

The Art of the Sonnet (Bristol)

Come explore a rich variety of sonnets and near-sonnets

Start Date: January 28, 2019 7 pm
End Date: March 25, 2019 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Hours, Bristol

Saturday Sessions with Ros Barber (Spring 2019)

£177.00 *

Tutor: Ros Barber

Saturday Sessions with Ros Barber (Spring 2019)

Monthly all-day Saturday workshops with Ros Barber

Start Date: February 2, 2019 10.30
End Date: March 23, 2019 ( 50 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Come Back Early: Revisiting and Revising

£72.00 *

Tutor: Penny Boxall

Come Back Early: Revisiting and Revising

Invigorate your poems with a fresh approach

Start Date: February 2, 2019 10.30am
End Date: February 2, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£72.00 *

Tutor: Tamar Yoseloff

After Arcadia: Cy Twombly

Use repurposing, erasure and collage to create new poems

Start Date: February 9, 2019 10.30
End Date: February 9, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£0.00

Tutor: Ella Frears

WRITE AHEAD: Free Introductory Workshop

Want to be a poet? Go Write Ahead.

Start Date: February 15, 2019 7pm
End Date: February 15, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Already Inside: Masterclass with Sean O'Brien

£72.00 *

Tutor: Sean O'Brien

Already Inside: Masterclass with Sean O'Brien

Write poems with a rich inner life and sound internal logic

Start Date: February 23, 2019 10.30am
End Date: February 23, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£72.00 *

Tutor: Vahni Capildeo

Write into the Territory

Rewrite the explorer's handbook on a liberating poetic adventure

Start Date: February 23, 2019 10.30am
End Date: February 23, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Out-Spoken Press: Surgery with Anthony Anaxagorou

£80.00 *

Tutor: Anthony Anaxagorou

Out-Spoken Press: Surgery with Anthony Anaxagorou

Join us for a special day of one-to-one feedback sessions with poets from the inimitable Out-Spoken Press

Start Date: March 2, 2019
End Date: March 2, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Out-Spoken Press: Surgery with Fran Lock

£80.00 *

Tutor: Fran Lock

Out-Spoken Press: Surgery with Fran Lock

Join us for a special day of one-to-one feedback sessions with poets from the inimitable Out-Spoken Press

Start Date: March 2, 2019
End Date: March 2, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Out-Spoken Press: Surgery with Bridget Minamore

£80.00 *

Tutor: Bridget Minamore

Out-Spoken Press: Surgery with Bridget Minamore

Join us for a special day of one-to-one feedback sessions with poets from the inimitable Out-Spoken Press

Start Date: March 2, 2019
End Date: March 2, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

£72.00 *

Tutor: Tamar Yoseloff

After Arcadia: Ian Hamilton Finlay

Apply the active, integrated practice of art-making to your poems

Start Date: March 9, 2019 10.30am
End Date: March 9, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Technicians of the Sacred: The Poem as a Magical Event

£72.00 *

Tutor: Sascha Akhtar

Technicians of the Sacred: The Poem as a Magical Event

Charge your poems with the ancient power of charm, spell, hymn and hex

Start Date: March 16, 2019 10.30am
End Date: March 16, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Tutor: Phillis Levin

Poetry surgery with Phillis Levin

A day of one-to-one feedback sessions with an award-winning poet

Start Date: March 20, 2019
End Date: March 20, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

Calling Forth: Direct Address / Apostrophe

£72.00 *

Tutor: Phillis Levin

Calling Forth: Direct Address / Apostrophe

Explore the power of the vocative or direct address in poetry

Start Date: March 23, 2019 10.30am
End Date: March 23, 2019 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: The Poetry School, London

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HOW FACE-TO-FACE WORKS

Tutor and students sit round a large table for a typical Poetry School course session or workshop and the meetings are friendly and relatively informal.

In each session, you might be given Exercises (specific writing tasks to inspire your own poems or ideas) or Feedback (comments on your work by tutors and / or other students); you might be Reading (close attention to published poems, looking for examples of technique, style, theme or form), Writing (working towards creating new poems throughout the duration of the course or workshop) or a combination of all these. Some courses will include tasks for you to complete at home.

Our face to face courses are designed to suit all levels of experience: some activities are open to all, and others are structured with beginner, intermediate or advanced poets specifically in mind. Similarly, our activities aim to offer a breadth of approach to learning poetry, with some focusing on form and technique, whilst others look to provide inspiration for your writing.

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

Content will vary course to course, but on all our face-to-face courses you can expect the following:

reading, writing and thinking about poetry in different ways
exposure to new writers, voices, forms and styles
the confidence to write more and devote more time to writing
generating new work
discovery of new areas and subjects for research
better understanding of how to make choices (length, theme, tone, etc)
enhanced critical skills
practical advice on further development

Many of our teaching poets are also performers, makers and artists, as well as teachers, and like to teach more than just poetry in their classes. One of the great advantages of face-to-face teaching is that is doesn’t always have to happen in a classroom. From time to time, we also like to run workshops where as well as writing poems, you might be going on a walking tour, exploring a priceless archive, painting pictures, eating exotic foods, making theatre props or even swimming in the wild.

We pride ourselves on the standard of our teaching and the poetry produced on every one of our courses. Many of our students have gone on to successfully submit their course work for publication in magazines and journals, and had success in competitions. But don’t take it from us: read some of our many student testimonials.

COURSE FORMATS

Generally speaking we offer 3 main types of face-to-face course:

LONG COURSES are more than 10 weeks and run over several terms. All our long courses start in the Autumn, but can be joined mid-way (subject to availability). Long courses are quite general and will encompass a large variety of ideas and techniques suitable for particular skill levels.

SHORT COURSES are commonly 10 weeks or less, once a term, with regular sessions running weekly or fortnightly. Short courses tend to focus on a particular subject, theme, form or technical aspect of poetry, often open to all levels.

WORKSHOPS are weekend, one or half day sessions. One day workshops are intensive writing and learning experiences that last 5 hours (with an additional 1 hour lunch break).

If you’re unsure which class, level, or style of course might be best for you, you can contact our administration team on administration@poetryschool.com for help with any course queries you might have.

FAQ

The activity I want is fully booked – what can I do?

Lost property?

Lost property will be kept in the office at 81 Lambeth Walk. Please call or email us if you believe you have left something in the classrooms.

What should I do if I can’t make a class session?

What is your refunds policy?

If you cannot attend a course a full refund will be made as long as cancellation is received four weeks before the course start date. After this period, we are only able to give you a refund if the course has sold out and we are able to fill your place. Refunds cannot be given if you were unable to attend a course or did not log on to the online chats. Please read our Terms & Conditions for more information.

How do I teach for the Poetry School?

Please send us details of your publication record and teaching experience and the ideas you have for courses and workshops you'd like to teach. If your ideas for the programme are a fit for ours, we will start to make joint plans. Download this 'Teaching for the Poetry School for the First Time' hand out which might be useful.

All our Face-to-Face Courses

HOW FACE-TO-FACE WORKS

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

COURSE FORMATS

FAQ

The activity I want is fully booked – what can I do?

Lost property?

What should I do if I can’t make a class session?

What is your refunds policy?

How do I teach for the Poetry School?

Find a Course