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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 In-Person Courses, Video Courses and Online Courses pages.

All our Courses

£300.00 *

Tutor: Suzanne Conway

Suzanne Conway Zoom Seminars 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Suzanne Conway on Zoom.

Start Date: October 7, 2025 6.30pm
End Date: May 5, 2026 ( 211 Days )
Type: Seminar, Video

£300.00 *

Tutor: Philip Gross

Philip Gross Zoom Seminar 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Philip Gross.

Start Date: October 7, 2025 5.30pm
End Date: May 5, 2026 ( 211 Days )
Type: Seminar, Video

£300.00 *

Tutor: Antony Dunn

Antony Dunn Seminars 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Antony Dunn.

Start Date: October 7, 2025 6.15pm
End Date: May 14, 2026 ( 220 Days )
Type: Seminar, Video

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

£240.00 *

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: October 7, 2025 6.45pm
End Date: December 16, 2025 ( 71 Days )
Type: Video

Sold Out!

Tutor: Greta Stoddart

Greta Stoddart Exeter Seminars 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Greta Stoddart in Exeter.

Start Date: October 8, 2025 12 & 3.30pm
End Date: May 13, 2026 ( 218 Days )
Type: Seminar • Location: Exeter Community Centre, Exeter

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: October 8, 2025
End Date: December 3, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

Ecology of Memory: Multimedia Transgenerational Ecopoetics

Sold Out!

Tutor: Elizabeth Torres (Madam Neverstop)

Ecology of Memory: Multimedia Transgenerational Ecopoetics

Explore environmental justice, ecological grief, and environmental memory through innovative multimedia poetry.

Start Date: October 8, 2025
End Date: December 17, 2025 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

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: October 8, 2025
End Date: December 10, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron

£240.00 *

Tutor: Mark Waldron

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron

An advanced weekly workshop group with the inimitable Mark Waldron.

Start Date: October 8, 2025
End Date: December 10, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Sold Out!

Tutor: Tristram Fane Saunders

Radical Rhythms

Explore the effects of poetry's metrical engine as we listen closely to language.

Start Date: October 9, 2025
End Date: December 4, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

Learning from the Female Poets: Influence & Inspiration

Sold Out!

Tutor: Clare Pollard

Learning from the Female Poets: Influence & Inspiration

Join the great poetic conversation and think about how to steal, allude, translate, remix, modernise, and answer back.

Start Date: October 9, 2025
End Date: December 18, 2025 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Follow the Impulse of the Brush: Transreading Japanese Forms

Sold Out!

Tutor: Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana

Follow the Impulse of the Brush: Transreading Japanese Forms

Inspiration from the East – Transread Japanese forms, poets, and traditions with Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana.

Start Date: October 9, 2025
End Date: December 18, 2025 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Clarity & Vision: Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price

£240.00 *

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: October 10, 2025
End Date: December 12, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

£300.00 *

Tutor: Heidi Williamson

Heidi Williamson Seminars 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Heidi Williamson in Wymondham or on Zoom.

Start Date: October 11, 2025 1.30pm & 6:30pm
End Date: May 19, 2026 ( 221 Days )
Type: Seminar, Video • Location: Wymondham Heritage Museum, Norfolk

Sold Out!

Tutor: Stav Poleg

Stav Poleg Cambridge Seminar 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Stav Poleg in Cambridge.

Start Date: October 11, 2025 10.30am
End Date: May 16, 2026 ( 218 Days )
Type: Seminar • Location: Rock Road Library, Cambridge

Sascha Akhtar's Decolonial Praxis Seminar 2025/26

£300.00 *

Tutor: Sascha Akhtar

Sascha Akhtar's Decolonial Praxis Seminar 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Sascha Akhtar on Zoom, diving into her specialist area of Decolonial Praxis.

Start Date: October 11, 2025 11am
End Date: May 9, 2026 ( 211 Days )
Type: Seminar, Video

Sold Out!

Tutor: Kathryn Simmonds

Saturday Sessions with Kathryn Simmonds

Monthly all-day Saturday workshops with Kathryn Simmonds.

Start Date: October 11, 2025 11am–5pm
End Date: December 13, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: In-person • Location:

Glyn Maxwell MA Graduate Seminars 2025/26

Tutor: Glyn Maxwell

Glyn Maxwell MA Graduate Seminars 2025/26

Monthly seminars in London for graduates of our MA in Writing Poetry.

Start Date: October 13, 2025 12pm
End Date: June 18, 2026 ( 249 Days )
Type: Seminar • Location:

Sold Out!

Tutor: Cat Woodward

Birds & Birdsongs Studio+

Thirteen ways of writing an ode to a darkling skylark.

Start Date: October 13, 2025
End Date: November 17, 2025 ( 36 Days )
Type: Online

Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis

£240.00 *

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: October 15, 2025
End Date: December 17, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

£70.00 *

Tutor: Becky Varley-Winter

Beginners’ Workshop Group

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

Start Date: October 15, 2025
End Date: December 10, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

£300.00 *

Tutor: Matthew Caley

Matthew Caley London Seminar 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Matthew Caley in London.

Start Date: October 15, 2025 6.30pm
End Date: May 20, 2026 ( 218 Days )
Type: Seminar

£300.00 *

Tutor: Greta Stoddart

Greta Stoddart Bridport Seminar 2025/26

Intimate monthly seminars with Greta Stoddart in Bridport.

Start Date: October 16, 2025 2pm
End Date: May 21, 2026 ( 218 Days )
Type: Seminar • Location: The Bull Hotel, Bridport

Friday Workshop with Natasha Hakimi Zapata

£240.00 *

Tutor: Natasha Hakimi Zapata

Friday Workshop with Natasha Hakimi Zapata

A weekly workshop for developing poets looking to improve their writing through feedback and close reading.

Start Date: October 17, 2025
End Date: December 19, 2025 ( 64 Days )
Type: Video

Poetry Through the Lens of Multilingual Writing with Astrid Alben

£180.00 *

Tutor: Astrid Alben

Poetry Through the Lens of Multilingual Writing with Astrid Alben

A radical new course exploring trans- & multilingual writing with the innovative Astrid Alben.

Start Date: October 18, 2025
End Date: December 13, 2025 ( 57 Days )
Type: Video

£75.00 *

Tutor: April Yee

Creation/Destruction

Writers often refer to their books as their babies – but what about texts about babies themselves?

Start Date: October 23, 2025
End Date: November 20, 2025 ( 29 Days )
Type: Video

£65.00 *

Tutor: Kathryn Simmonds

The Poetry of Picture Books

Push your poetic skills, find the sparks behind stories, and explore the harmony between words and pictures when writing for children.

Start Date: October 25, 2025
End Date: October 25, 2025 ( 1 Day )
Type: In-person • Location: The Bindery, London

Jacqueline Saphra Monthly London Seminars 2025/26

Sold Out!

Tutor: Jacqueline Saphra

Jacqueline Saphra Monthly London Seminars 2025/26

Intimate seminars with Jacqueline Saphra in London.

Start Date: October 30, 2025 6.30pm
End Date: July 7, 2026 ( 251 Days )
Type: Seminar • Location:

Sold Out!

Tutor: Helen Calcutt

The Spaces Between

What lives and breathes in the spaces between moment and moment; what possibilities arise from these bridges of quiet?

Start Date: October 30, 2025
End Date: December 11, 2025 ( 43 Days )
Type: Video

Good Grief Studio: Navigating Trauma in Poetry & Song

Sold Out!

Tutor: Matt Bryden

Good Grief Studio: Navigating Trauma in Poetry & Song

Write through loss, in all its forms, to find what you've gained on the other side of grief.

Start Date: November 3, 2025
End Date: December 1, 2025 ( 29 Days )
Type: Online

Sold Out!

Tutor: Isabelle Baafi

First & Last Lines Studio

Learn to capture a reader’s attention within seconds and leave them wanting more.

Start Date: November 3, 2025
End Date: December 1, 2025 ( 29 Days )
Type: Online

A Bargain with the Light: Exploring Lee Miller at Tate Britain

Sold Out!

Tutor: Jacqueline Saphra

A Bargain with the Light: Exploring Lee Miller at Tate Britain

Explore Lee Miller's trailblazing photographs at Tate Britain as inspiration for new poems.

Start Date: November 29, 2025 10.30am
End Date: December 13, 2025 ( 15 Days )
Type: In-person • Location: The Bindery, London

MA Foundation Seminar with Meryl Pugh 2026

£900.00 *

Tutor: Meryl Pugh

MA Foundation Seminar with Meryl Pugh 2026

Monthly Zoom seminars, with MA Core Tutor Meryl Pugh, for those looking to develop the skills necessary for postgraduate poetic study.

Start Date: January 8, 2026 6:00pm
End Date: June 4, 2026 ( 148 Days )
Type: Seminar, Video

Global Majority Writing from the British Countryside: A Poetry Masterclass

£215.00 *

Tutor: Louisa Adjoa Parker

Global Majority Writing from the British Countryside: A Poetry Masterclass

Explore the joy and resilience of pastoral writing from Global Majority poets.

Start Date: January 13, 2026
End Date: April 7, 2026 ( 85 Days )
Type: Online

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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 In-Person Courses, Video 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

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.

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

How many courses can I take?

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?