Poetry School

Why should you workshop your poetry? 📖

Natasha Hakimi Zapata ( ) discusses the purpose of workshopping, receiving critiques from fellow writers, and your creative voice 🗣️

🔗 Read the full blog through the link in our bio.

Natasha is also back with us this Summer running her Friday Workshop!

📅 Starts Friday 29 May
💻 Zoom
🕑 2-4pm (BST)

Book now through our website or visit the link in our bio to secure your spot 🌸

Looking to develop your writing and become part of a poetry community? 🫶

Antony Dunn is back with his monthly seminars this Summer! 🌞

These sessions provide an intimate setting and generate supportive and critical friendships, helping you to become part of a poetry community.

✍️ What to expect:

- In-depth discussion and feedback on your poems-in-progress
- Close reading exercises
- Conversation around contemporary poetry
- Guidance on your next steps as a poet

"Antony runs the group really well - encouraging and positive while also offering insightful and often quite robust critical feedback. In my experience this is pretty rare"
- Seminar Student, 2025.

Please note due to the nature of these seminars there is a maximum of six students in each group, so to apply please contact [email protected]. 📩

Take your First Steps in Writing Poetry!🪜

Have you always wanted to write poetry, but not sure where to start?

Welcome to First Steps, our new Beginners workshop series led by Isabelle Baafi!

This series is designed to support your first steps into writing poetry in a friendly and accessible way.

These sessions are open-to-all and there is no requirement to take either one first! Book your place now through the links below🔗

Here are our upcoming sessions:

💡FINDING INSPIRATION

Discuss what makes poetry a unique art form and discover how you can sharpen your voice while drawing inspiration from everyday life.

📅 Tuesday 14 July, 6.30-9pm (BST)
💻 Zoom
👉 https://poetryschool.com/courses/finding-inspiration-with-isabelle-baafi-july-2026/

🔍 A CLOSER LOOK

Consider the different 'ways in' to a poem, and the various modes for using voice, perspective and address to write poems that are fresh, surprising and unique.

📅 Tuesday 11 August, 6.30-9pm (BST)
💻 Zoom
👉 https://poetryschool.com/courses/first-steps-a-closer-look-with-isabelle-baafi-august-2026/

We’re delighted to announce that applications are now open for the Poetry School MA in Writing Poetry Scholarship 2026! 🎓

This is a full fee scholarship award to the Poetry School / Newcastle University MA in Writing Poetry for an outstanding UK-based applicant who is currently underrepresented in the poetry world.

🔗 To check if you're eligible and to apply, please visit: https://poetryschool.com/theblog/announcing-the-poetry-school-ma-in-writing-poetry-scholarship-2025/

If you have any queries regarding this scholarship or the MA in Writing Poetry, please contact our MA Manager, Tessa Foley, at [email protected] 📩

In these times, when it is easy to feel powerless, what is our call to action as poets? 📣

Shazea Quraishi recommends 4 poems which demonstrate writing in response to times of crisis ✍️

1. 'Little Father' by Li-Young Lee
2. 'Amman 1966' by Ghassan Zaqtan (translated by Fast Joudah)
3. 'Wellwater' by Karen Solie
4. 'I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move' by Louise Erdrich

You can read the piece here: https://poetryschool.com/theblog/4-poems-for-times-of-crisis/

If you'd like to explore taking poetic action in response to these times of war, displacement and climate emergency, Shazea is running her poetry workshop 'Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis's with us this Summer.

📅 Starts Wednesday 20 May, 6.45pm-8.45pm (BST)

Book now: https://poetryschool.com/courses/lighting-the-world-writing-in-times-of-crisis-5/

Wondering where to start with refining your poetry? 📝

Leah Umansky shares her top tips designed to help you improve your writing! You can also read them in full here: https://poetryschool.com/how-to/how-to-improve-your-writing/

👉 If you’d like to explore these tips further and learn how to write poems inspired by other poems, Leah is teaching her Online course 'Poems After Poems: Writing Ars Poetica' with us this Summer, starting on Friday 15 May.

📆 BOOK NOW: https://poetryschool.com/courses/poems-after-poems-writing-ars-poetica-2/

Our team had a fantastic time at Free Verse on Saturday! It was wonderful meeting so many writers and hearing about their poetry journeys. Thank you to all who stopped by to say hello and thank you to for organising such a fun event 📚 ✨

If you managed to bag a mystery poetry prompt from us on the day, remember to tag us in any poems you end up creating as a result and we'll be sure to share them! ✍️

📢 We’re Hiring! MA Tutor in Writing Poetry (Freelance)

The Poetry School is seeking an exceptional poet / educator to teach as a lecturer on the Poetry School / Newcastle University MA in Writing Poetry.

📌 Role: MA Tutor in Writing Poetry
📌 Contract: Freelance
📌 Location: Somerset House, Strand, London

We’re looking for someone who:

🎓 Has experience of teaching poetry/creative writing at a graduate level.

📚 Is an established poet who has an excellent publication recording, that includes one or more collections, and is an established member of the literary community.

🗣️ Is confident in leading workshops and highly skilled in giving constructive feedback.

🗓️ Apply by: Sunday 10 May 2026, 11.59pm
💻 Interviews: W/C 18 May 2026

👉 Find out more here: https://poetryschool.com/open-call/were-hiring-ma-tutor-in-writing-poetry-2/

Happy Earth Day! 🌎

Check out our courses designed for emerging and established poets, creative activists and writers eager to address global crises through poetry 💚

🌳 From Miniature to Global: Ecological Imaginaries Studio with Rachel Bower () - Starts 6 May

🍄‍🟫 Field Poetics Masterclass with Ruby Reding () - SOLD OUT

🌊 The Ocean is not a Metaphor - Decolonising the Sea with Rosemarie Corlett - Starts 13 May

🕸️ Re-Weirding the Albion with JLM Morton ( ) - SOLD OUT

⚡ Lighting the World: Writing in Times of Crisis with Shazea Quraishi ( ) Starts 20 May

BOOK NOW: https://poetryschool.com/courses/

If you are interested in one of the courses that has sold out please contact us at [email protected] and we would be happy to add you to the waiting list.

🔊 Curious about the sonic possibilities of poetry and the poetic possibilities of sound?

Iris Colomb talks us through her top 5 ways writers can use sound in their poetry.

If you’d like to learn more and explore the wondrous worlds in which poetry and sound collide, Iris is running her Online course Sonic Language / Poetic Noise Masterclass with us this Summer, starting on Thursday 7 May.

There are now only a couple of spaces left, so to ensure you don't miss out please visit: https://poetryschool.com/courses/sonic-language-poetic-noise-masterclass/

SAVE THE DATE ✨

Two weeks from today, our team at The Poetry School will be attending the Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Book Fair organised by The Poetry Society 📚

This event starts at 12pm and is free to attend, so pop down and come meet the people who help make poetry happen! ❤️

More info: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/free-verse-poetry-book-and-magazine-fair-faqs/