Poetry School

Poetry School Welcome to the Poetry School! We run courses, workshops and one to ones to help poets of all levels

📣 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENTWe're absolutely thrilled to reveal the The Laurel Prize 2026 Shortlist! The shortlisted poets –...
14/08/2026

📣 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENT

We're absolutely thrilled to reveal the The Laurel Prize 2026 Shortlist!

The shortlisted poets – judged this year by the poets David Morley (Chair) and Imtiaz Dharker and environmental policy expert Bethan Laughlin – is as follows (in alphabetical order):

🌿 Midden Witch by Fiona Benson (Jonathan Cape at Vintage Books)

🌿 Ethnology by Cathy Galvin (Bloodaxe Books)

🌿 Natural History by Brandon Kilbourne (Graywolf Press)

🌿 Tipping Point by Jane Lovell (Night River Wood)

🌿 The Storm's Flora by Laura Wainwright (Seren Books)

This prize is funded by Simon Armitage’s Laureate’s honorarium and is awarded to the best collection of environmental or nature poetry published that year. The prize awards £5,000 for the winner and £1,000 for the other four finalists. The winner will also receive a four-night writing retreat in mid-Wales courtesy of 2026 prize partners Write Within.

📅 This year's Laurel Prize winner will be announced on Friday 25 September at a special event at BBC Philharmonic Studio in Salford as part of BBC Contains Strong Language Festival. More information will be announced very soon!

Here is the full list of Masterclasses starting this September!Our masterclass courses take place online and focus on cr...
10/08/2026

Here is the full list of Masterclasses starting this September!

Our masterclass courses take place online and focus on craft and theory. Book your place now: https://poetryschool.com/autumn-2026/autumn-2026-quick-course-guide/

If you are interested in a course which has sold out, please contact us at [email protected] and you'll be added to the waiting list.



Into Greater Fields of Possibility

🎓 Tutor: Zakia Carpenter-Hall

📅 Starts: Tuesday 22 September

🌐 Where: Online (asynchronous)

⏳Duration: 5 sessions over 12 weeks

📚 Level: Advanced

✍️ For poets who: are interested in exploring the links between science, philosophy and poetry and want to experiment with inventive poetic forms.

Line Dancing for Poets Masterclass

🎓 Tutor: Carrie Etter (Carrie Etter)

📅 Starts: Wednesday 23 September

🌐 Where: Online (asynchronous)

⏳Duration: 5 sessions over 12 weeks

📚 Level: Advanced

✍️ For poets who: want to explore and experiment with different approaches to the line, and have an interest in prose poetry.

Plastic Language: Poetry on Record

🎓 Tutor: Will René (.language)

📅 Starts: Friday 25 September

🌐 Where: Online (asynchronous)

⏳Duration: 5 sessions over 12 weeks

📚 Level: Advanced

✍️ For poets who: are keen to delve into the intersections between poetry, sound and music, specifically through the lense of recorded media.

The Odyssey has inspired generations of poets, artists and filmmakers, and Christopher Nolan's new adaptation has alread...
07/08/2026

The Odyssey has inspired generations of poets, artists and filmmakers, and Christopher Nolan's new adaptation has already sparked so many conversations.

If you'd like to delve deeper into Emily Wilson's translation and explore re-imagining Homer's cast of Olympians, sea-monsters, Lotus Eaters, and mere humans through writing poetry, Stav Poleg is back this Autumn running her previously sold-out course, 'Tell Me About a Complicated Man: Transreading the Odyssey'.

📅 Thursday 1 October 2026
🌐 Online

Book now through the link in our bio!





Looking to develop your writing under the guidance of a published poet? 📝We are excited to announce that we will once ag...
04/08/2026

Looking to develop your writing under the guidance of a published poet? 📝

We are excited to announce that we will once again be participating in the TLC Arts Council England Free Reads Scheme this year, offering low-income poets the opportunity to get free professional feedback on their writing!

As a partner, we are delighted to be offering one poet a free place on TLC's Chapter & Verse Mentoring Classic Scheme from February 2027. Find out more & apply now through the link in our bio ✨

The Free Reads Scheme is open to all writers based in England, and particularly welcomes applications from writers belonging to groups currently under-represented in publishing including disabled writers, neurodivergent writers, Black, Asian, and Global Majority writers, and members of the LGBQT+ community.

TLCUK

Very excited to be presenting workshops for The Poetry School in London on October 24th and November 7th. ‘Fontasia: Poe...
26/07/2026

Very excited to be presenting workshops for The Poetry School in London on October 24th and November 7th. ‘Fontasia: Poetry & Rebellious Typography’ comes out of my residency with Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print and explores what happens when type is used as imagery, or is debased or redacted, or when the rules of grammar, spacing and punctuation are broken. We’ll look at the work of Herbert, Ruefle, Queneau, Cummings, Tom Phillips and Kei Miller before getting out the scissors, white-out, felt tips and glue to shape our own rebellious poems.

https://poetryschool.com/courses/fontasia-poetry-rebellious-typography/

Our Autumn Term Courses have now launched! 👻With over 40 courses to choose from, there's something for everyone, from be...
20/07/2026

Our Autumn Term Courses have now launched! 👻

With over 40 courses to choose from, there's something for everyone, from beginner to advanced. Check our full line up of tutors who will be running courses with us this Autumn.

💥 For more details and to book your spot(s) please visit: https://poetryschool.com/autumn-2026/autumn-2026-quick-course-guide/

Remember: if you require financial support, check out our website for all the concessions we offer. If you are eligible, make sure to email our team at [email protected]

Happy booking!

💭 Thinking about starting to write poetry, but not sure where to begin? Award-winning poet and Poetry School tutor Isabe...
13/07/2026

💭 Thinking about starting to write poetry, but not sure where to begin?

Award-winning poet and Poetry School tutor Isabelle Baafi shares the important things to consider as a poetry beginner.

Isabelle is also leading our First Steps programme which is running between July-December 2026. The sessions are aimed at beginner poets to support their first steps into writing poetry in a friendly and accessible way.

To get started on your poetry journey, please visit: https://poetryschool.com/new-courses/take-your-first-steps-in-writing-poetry/

New Announcement! 📣We are absolutely thrilled to announce our new MA Tutor in Writing Poetry is acclaimed poet and forme...
10/07/2026

New Announcement! 📣

We are absolutely thrilled to announce our new MA Tutor in Writing Poetry is acclaimed poet and former Poetry School tutor, Fran Lock! 🎉

Fran will be joining as a core tutor alongside Glyn Maxwell and begin teaching from September 2026, but will be working with the MA team over the Summer as she is introduced to the course. Swipe to find out more about her ➡️

🚨 There's still time to apply for the MA in Writing Poetry but please be aware spaces are limited! To find out more please visit https://poetryschool.com/postgraduate-course-in-writing-poetry/



ABOUT FRAN

(Dr) Fran Lock is a poet, essayist, editor, amateur medievalist, and rescue-dog parent. She is the author of numerous chapbooks and sixteen poetry collections, most notably Hyena! ( 2023), shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023 and for the PEN Heaney Prize 2024. Her most recent pamphlets are Love is Stronger than Death (.org.uk 2025), and Hag Stone ( 2025). Vulgar Errors/ Feral Subjects, a collection of lyric essays exploring feral subjectivity through the lens of the medieval bestiary, was published by in 2024. Fran was the Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at 2022-2023, and is a Commissioning Editor at the radical arts and culture cooperative Culture Matters. She describes her work as prolific, versatile, and driven by a profound commitment to
small-press publication.

🗣️ "At last, the prophesy has come to pass! By which I mean, I am wildly excited to be joining the team at Poetry School as a core tutor on the MA in Writing Poetry!!!

Poetry School has played such a foundational and significant role in shaping my own development as a writer, a teacher, and as a person in the world, that to be given this opportunity feels like coming home. I owe Poetry School, and my mentor, the late, great Roddy Lumsden, a good deal. Making and holding that dedicated place for poetry and poets is a mighty thing in so many ways. I take that seriously. I will be paying it forward, in the spirit of solidarity, and with feral gusto. I can't wait

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Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm
Thursday 10am - 5:30pm
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