Link & Change: An Introduction to Renga
Enjoy close exploration of this exquisite Japanese form.
* This course will take place on the video-conferencing platform ZOOM *
Time without season.
A hand in a rushing stream.
Begin anywhere.
In this session, Japanese-Danish poet Erica Hesketh introduces Renga, a sequence form originating in Japan. Erica has long been obsessed with this form and has experimented with it in her own poetry (in English), including in her debut collection In the Lily Room, which is forthcoming in May 2025 with Nine Arches Press.
In this relaxed Zoom session, you can expect to learn about Renga’s origins and basic rules, and how poets have used it in different ways, both in Japan and in English-speaking countries. Erica will share some inspiring examples, by poets ranging from Matsuo Basho to Marilyn Hacker.
You’ll get a series of gentle exercises on generating seasonal imagery, practising the ‘link and change’ connections between verses, and observing nature in your corner of the world. Over the session, we’ll explore writing syllabically and how to work effectively within a tight set of poetic parameters. The session will also include a look at Haiku, which originated as the opening verse of a Renga. Finally, the group will have a go at writing a sequence together, in honour of Renga’s origins as a social form written on the spot at (plum-wine-fuelled) parties.
This session is appropriate for all levels, with no prior knowledge assumed, though you are welcome to bring along a sequence you are already working on, to develop during the session.
1 x 2.5-hour session, running 6.30–9pm (BST), on 16 April 2025. This course will take place on the video-conferencing platform ZOOM.
To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. More information about how our Video Courses work can be found on the Video Courses page. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].
Image credit: Nikolai Rubanov
About Erica Hesketh 
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Erica Hesketh is a poet and editor, originally from Japan and Denmark, now based in London. Widely published in magazines and journals, she placed second in the 2022 Winchester Poetry Prize, and was commended in the 2023 Magma Poetry Competition and the 2023 Stanza Competition. She was longlisted in the 2023 National Poetry Competition. Her poetry has been commissioned by the Royal Festival Hall, Spread the Word, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2016 to 2024 she was Director of the Poetry Translation Centre. She is a member of the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective 2023–24. Her debut collection, In the Lily Room, will be published by Nine Arches Press in May 2025.
"Poetry School has kept me motivated and purposeful through personally hard times. I have made friends and had some success in publishing poems started on Poetry School courses."
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