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Video Courses

Fully digital face-to-face courses, held online and accessible from around the world

Face-to-face teaching is now available remotely through our Zoom-based courses

On our video courses, a group of students meet on Zoom 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 Video Courses

Interdisciplinary & Translingual Explorations with Astrid Alben

£220.00 *

Tutor: Astrid Alben

Interdisciplinary & Translingual Explorations with Astrid Alben

An exciting, advanced poetry workshop with the innovative Astrid Alben.

Start Date: January 21, 2025
End Date: March 25, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

New Territories: An Intermediate-Advanced Workshop with Wayne Holloway-Smith

£220.00 *

Tutor: Wayne Holloway-Smith

New Territories: An Intermediate-Advanced Workshop with Wayne Holloway-Smith

Bring your writing to the next level and explore contemporary poetry’s cutting-edge.

Start Date: January 21, 2025 6.45pm
End Date: March 25, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Sold Out!

Tutor: Becky Varley-Winter

Poetic Forms for Beginners

Spark your creativity and take your first steps into the world of poetry!

Start Date: January 22, 2025
End Date: March 19, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron

£220.00 *

Tutor: Mark Waldron

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron

An advanced weekly workshop group with the inimitable Mark Waldron.

Start Date: January 22, 2025
End Date: March 26, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Rachel Long’s Advanced Weekly Workshop with Special Guests

Sold Out!

Tutor: Rachel Long

Rachel Long’s Advanced Weekly Workshop with Special Guests

An exciting advanced workshop group with the much-loved Rachel Long and the benefit of special guest tutors each term.

Start Date: January 22, 2025
End Date: March 26, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Technique [How to Discover or Disown It] 2.0

Sold Out!

Tutor: Matthew Caley

Technique [How to Discover or Disown It] 2.0

What training do you do to sustain and maintain yourself as a poet? Explore the essential work of writerly ‘technique’, in an all new edition of this popular course.

Start Date: January 23, 2025 7–9pm
End Date: March 27, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis

Sold Out!

Tutor: Shazea Quraishi

Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis

How can we write poetry through times of ecological emergency, perpetual war, or personal crises?

Start Date: January 23, 2025
End Date: March 27, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Clarity & Vision: Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price

£220.00 *

Tutor: Richard Price

Clarity & Vision: Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price

Join this group for close discussion of your writing with acclaimed poet, Richard Price.

Start Date: January 24, 2025
End Date: March 28, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

The Craft of Poetry: A Course for New Poets

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Tutor: Colin Bramwell

The Craft of Poetry: A Course for New Poets

Perfect your poetic practice (and get answers to questions you’ve been too afraid to ask!).

Start Date: January 25, 2025 10.30am – 12.30pm
End Date: April 5, 2025 ( 71 Days )
Type: Video

Sold Out!

Tutor: Becky Varley-Winter

Beginners’ Workshop Group

Join a supportive community for close reading and developmental feedback on your new poems!

Start Date: January 29, 2025
End Date: March 26, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

Sold Out!

Tutor: Jodie Hollander

Narrative Art: Poetic Storytelling

Structure storied poems and narrate like a natural.

Start Date: February 4, 2025
End Date: April 1, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

£95.00 *

Tutor: Abbi Parcell

Women, Writing, & Place

Use your writing to explore personal identity and the intersections that shape us.

Start Date: March 1, 2025
End Date: March 15, 2025 ( 15 Days )
Type: Video

Conditions of Invisibility & Creation of the Self, after Gboyega Odubanjo

£80.00 *

Tutor: Rachel Long

Conditions of Invisibility & Creation of the Self, after Gboyega Odubanjo

Gboyega: Locating selfhood, seen-ness, and invisibility in Adam. Decent.

Start Date: March 11, 2025 6.30pm
End Date: March 25, 2025 ( 15 Days )
Type: Video

£55.00 *

Tutor: Eve Grubin

Writing What Can’t Be Said

Risk and reward – saying un-sayable things.

Start Date: March 20, 2025 2–4.30pm
End Date: March 20, 2025 ( 1 Day )
Type: Video

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HOW VIDEO WORKS

Tutor and students meet on Zoom for an online 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 between the sessions.

Our video 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 video 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

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 video courses:

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.

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

FAQ

How many courses can I take?

To ensure the best experience, we recommend taking no more than two courses per term. If you are interested in signing up to more, please email us at [email protected] to discuss the different course schedules.

The Poetry School

Video Courses

Fully digital face-to-face courses, held online and accessible from around the world

Face-to-face teaching is now available remotely through our Zoom-based courses

All our Video Courses

Interdisciplinary & Translingual Explorations with Astrid Alben

New Territories: An Intermediate-Advanced Workshop with Wayne Holloway-Smith

Poetic Forms for Beginners

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron

Rachel Long’s Advanced Weekly Workshop with Special Guests

Technique [How to Discover or Disown It] 2.0

Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis

Clarity & Vision: Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price

The Craft of Poetry: A Course for New Poets

Beginners’ Workshop Group

Narrative Art: Poetic Storytelling

Women, Writing, & Place

Conditions of Invisibility & Creation of the Self, after Gboyega Odubanjo

Writing What Can’t Be Said

HOW VIDEO WORKS

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

COURSE FORMATS

FAQ

How many courses can I take?

Find a Course