Poetry of the Displaced

Distance makes the poetry grow stronger – writing yourself back home.

‘Poetry has always sounded like something more than just rhyming lines – people felt it had the power of healing.’ – Anna Liudnova, Ukrainian poet and psychologist

I dare to speak about poetry of the displaced, because I am displaced poet. The reasons for displacement can differ: labour migration to improve standard of living, climate and natural disasters, political exile, active war, ethnic, religious, language, other conflicts, etc. It is impossible to cover all of these topics in a short course, so we will touch on what is well known to me: forced displacement connected with flight from conflict, regime, or war.

We’ll open the pages of the displacement diary in chronological order, starting from the beginning of the war, or the realisation of the developing situation and the poet’s reactions to stress. The virtual journey leads us to the moment of collecting the bag, the decision to leave, saying goodbye to dear people and native places. We’ll meditate on the events that happen for the last time and the last poems in the lives of famous poets.

The next stage will be crossing the border – a leap across an abyss and the challenges of meeting a new world. The course will analyse the consequences of this move, including feelings of not belonging, alienation, and nostalgia. Integration for the displaced is interlinked with searches for your own identity, mixing languages and faces. On this course we’ll pay special attention to poems that explore “the city in me”.

Finally, we’ll spend time exploring how poetry can function an instrument to explore and work through the traumatic experiences that can come with displacement – poetry as a kind of as “natural spell” for healing. Displaced poets will accompany our excursion with the heartbreaking on one hand and the hopeful on the other, as we use our poems to move forward from these challenges into a hopefully brighter and safer tomorrow.

5 fortnightly sessions over 10 weeks, starting 6 October 2026. No live chats. Suitable for UK & International students.

Concessions & Accessibility

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. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].

What to Expect

Please check the left hand side of this page for information on how this course works in practice, under the heading ‘Course Style‘. If you’re unsure as to what any of the terms there mean, or if this course is a good fit for you, please visit our What to Expect page which includes some further information on how our courses function.

Image credit: @Hamza ksz

About Olha Shvets View Profile

Olha Shvets is an award-winning poet, songwriter, scriptwriter, librettist, artist, and actress. She writes poetry in English and Ukrainian and was published around Ukraine and Europe from the age of 10. She is the author of several poetry books and a founder of a poetry festival AnT-R-Act, as well as being laureate of numerous literary festivals. In 2012, she was awarded the Yuri Kaplan Literary Prize and the Yuri Kaplan Medal for achievements in poetry. In 2025, she was shortlisted for Jaak’n’Max’s Advent Poetry Prize.

Olha has edited and issued more than thirty collective literary collections, almanacs, and anthologies of modern Ukrainian poetry. She studied English Language and World Literature BA at Kherson State University. After fleeing the war in 2022, Olha now lives in the UK and works as an English and Maths teacher. She regularly performs with her poetry and takes part in theatrical performances in London and outside of it (Trojan Women and Diaspora Inferno projects). She is a 2026 graduate of the MA in Poetry Writing at Newcastle University with the Poetry School.

"I feel encouraged to be braver with what I write because I feel that I am in a safe space."

- Spring 2025 Survey Response

The Poetry School