Poetry Souvenirs
Keepsakes from over there; capturing the foreign without the fake.
How do we respond to a place we have only passed through as a traveller? In this course/workshop, we will look at poems that visit places as an outsider, that observe and perceive, that have the humility not to claim the perception of an insider. We will explore how to evoke a setting through the counterpoise of words and white space, and progress from scribbled journal to crafted poem. Our resultant new poems will be as hard-wearing as a keyring or stick of rock, but far more personal, penetrative, and multidimensional.
Please bring with you a postcard or memento from the place you wish to locate your poetry souvenir.
1 full-day session, running 10.30am–4.30pm (GMT), on 16 March 2024. This course will take place at Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA.
To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to administ[email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. More information about how our In-Person Courses work can be found on the In-Person 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: @girlwithredhat
About Isabella Mead 
View Profile
Isabella Mead is Head of Learning and Participation at The Story Museum in Oxford, through which she leads a vibrant team of storytellers and creative writing tutors. Her debut pamphlet Dear Rwanda was published in 2023 by Live Canon. Her poetry has appeared in Magma, Mslexia, Ink Sweat & Tears, Poetry Wales, the Telegraph and Poetry News. She has won 7 poetry competitions including The Julian Lennon Poetry Prize in 2021. Isabella Mead grew up in Cambridge and holds a Master’s in History of Art from the University of York. A former secondary English teacher in East London, she lived and worked for two years from 2010 to 2012 in a rural area of Rwanda with Voluntary Service Overseas, an experience which profoundly informs her writing. She lives in Bristol with her partner and her cat, and is studying for a second BA degree in French, Italian and Spanish. She is a Trustee of Jane Austen House and a Poetry Ambassador at Keats House.
‘Poetry School offers the most-innovative and creative poetry workshops I've had the pleasure to attend. The tutors are world-class and the themes and topics varied and interesting. I have gained more confidence in myself as a result of the courses I've taken.’
Writing Trauma in Poems
Poetry & Music: Kissing Kin
The Movement of the City, the Movement of the Mind: Writing Prose Poetry