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Start writing poetry, today

Join us in reading, writing, editing and translating poetry, in year-long courses, short courses, workshops, one-day sessions, seminars, tutorials and every variety of learning in between – in our classrooms, off site and online.

For more information and FAQs about how our courses work, please go to our Face-to-Face Courses, Online Courses and Downloads pages.

All our Courses

£150.00 *

Tutor: Glyn Maxwell

Dark Canadee

Calling Poets, Pirates, and Dreamers; come sail with us to Dark Canadee.

Start Date: June 25, 2021
Type: Online

A House of Many Rooms: The Sonnet Sequence

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Tutor: Jacqueline Saphra

A House of Many Rooms: The Sonnet Sequence

Find your ‘big idea’ and get to work on a propulsive new sonnet sequence with an expert in the field!

Start Date: June 26, 2021 10:30am
End Date: July 10, 2021 ( 15 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

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Tutor: Sarah Westcott and Joe Beale

Looking at Lichens

Join us for an inspiring day of reading, writing, and discussion, alongside some practical exploration of lichens!

Start Date: July 17, 2021 10:30am
End Date: July 17, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

£35.00 *

Tutor: Roy Mcfarlane

Heroes; Saints & Sinners

Explore your heroes, and their foibles, to write poems of admiration and truth with Roy McFarlane.

Start Date: July 26, 2021 2pm
End Date: July 26, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

Experimental Latin American Poetry: From Visual to Concrete

£35.00 *

Tutor: Leonardo Boix

Experimental Latin American Poetry: From Visual to Concrete

Explore experimental Latin American poetry with Latinx poet Leo Boix as your guide.

Start Date: July 27, 2021 2pm
End Date: July 27, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

£35.00 *

Tutor: Vanessa Lampert

Light About the Darkness

Develop rapport with your readers and welcome them into poems where light and dark can co-exist.

Start Date: July 27, 2021 10.30am
End Date: July 27, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

£35.00 *

Tutor: Rachael Allen

Experimenting in the Margins

Consider how working class experiences can disrupt poetic norms and create vital new work.

Start Date: July 28, 2021 10.30am
End Date: July 28, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

£35.00 *

Tutor: Ella Frears

Writing the Everyday

Ask what deserves to be in a poem and explore the everyday with T.S. Eliot Prize-nominated Ella Frears.

Start Date: July 28, 2021 2pm
End Date: July 28, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

‘Stored Sound’: Poetic Language & Sounds in the World

£35.00 *

Tutor: Holly Pester

‘Stored Sound’: Poetic Language & Sounds in the World

Start Date: July 29, 2021 2pm
End Date: July 29, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

£35.00 *

Tutor: Maitreyabandhu

Life as Poem

Explore the book-length poem to find the poetry of your life.

Start Date: July 29, 2021 10.30am
End Date: July 29, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

From Personal Iconography to the Effect of Synthesis

£35.00 *

Tutor: Annie Freud

From Personal Iconography to the Effect of Synthesis

Join poet and artist, Annie Freud, for an exploration of your personal poetic iconography.

Start Date: July 30, 2021 10.30am
End Date: July 30, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

£35.00 *

Tutor: Inua Ellams

On Conditional Poetry

Join Inua Ellams to ask what might happen if you did write that poem?

Start Date: July 30, 2021 2pm
End Date: July 30, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

Poetry & Visual Art: A Fine Day for Seeing

£35.00 *

Tutor: Tamar Yoseloff

Poetry & Visual Art: A Fine Day for Seeing

Be inspired by visual art on a gallery tour, before coming together to workshop new poems.

Start Date: July 31, 2021 10.30am
End Date: July 31, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face • Location: Poetry School, London

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How it works

The Poetry School’s teaching year runs over three ‘terms’ – Autumn, Spring and Summer. Each term we offer around 40-50 courses and workshops that cater to a variety of levels, varying in length and subject matter. The course programme changes every term with more new courses, workshops and tutors, but often includes courses that run over three terms and popular repeats.

We offer both ‘classroom’ teaching (UK) and ‘virtual’ teaching (international). You can visit our Face-to-Face Courses and Online Courses pages for more detailed information about course structures, process and what to expect.

Finding the right Course

Most of our courses and workshops accommodate writers with a wide range of experience, but some are specifically designed for beginners or more practicised poets.

Here are our definitions:

Beginner – Learning the ropes: beginning to write poetry.
Intermediate – Starting to develop your voice, generate more work and grow confident on the page.
Advanced – Able to confidently edit, hone, discuss and critique your poetry.

Our programme is developed around these three teaching levels, although we also offer many courses that are Open to all – courses aimed at all levels, often focusing on a specific theme or inspirational subject matter.

FAQ

What is poetry?

There is no one answer, and many, many people have their own ideas. Here are some definitions we like:

‘Literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm’ – OED

‘Poetry is a heightened imagistic use of language that does things to the heart and head’ – Grace Nichols

‘A made thing, a verbal construct, an event in language’ – Edward Hirsch

‘Poetry is memorable speech’ – W H Auden

‘Poetry does not explain life. It gives life to feeling and seeing’ – Sarah Stetie

‘Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not’ – Samuel Johnson

I’m already publishing and performing poetry – what can you do to help me?

We have an expanding programme of projects and activities which seek to address the continuing professional development needs of practising poets, from residencies to enhanced publishing, editing and performance opportunities and beyond. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest details.

Will the Poetry School help me become a poet?

Since 1997, when the Poetry School was founded, our students have gone on to publish in magazines and online; they've produced pamphlets and books as poets and editors with publishers from the smallest independents to the largest commercial houses; they've won multiple prizes and awards; they've become poetry tutors themselves; they've moved on to take poetry MAs and PhDs.; they’ve set up performance nights, magazines, shows and events. While we can't guarantee that all students will go on to get published; serious engagement with the art and craft of poetry in the company of tutors and fellow students who are as passionate about the form as you are can only ever improve your chances of getting your work out to a wider audience.

Join us in reading, writing, editing and translating poetry, in year-long courses, short courses, workshops, one-day sessions, seminars, tutorials and every variety of learning in between – in our classrooms, off site and online.

All our Courses

Find a Course

How it works

Finding the right Course

FAQ

What is poetry?

I’m already publishing and performing poetry – what can you do to help me?

Will the Poetry School help me become a poet?