Poetry workshop
poetry
In this month’s workshop, Sarah Willans (left)
looks at poetry courses and asks three fellow poetry news
poets to describe their learning experience poetry prize for teenagers
The Christopher Tower Poetry
Competition, the UK’s most valuable
prize for young poets, closes for entries
on 11 February 2010. This year, students
being told to send my next poetry collection around £550 for five days. aged 16–18 are challenged to write a
manuscript to a large publisher.’
www.arvonfoundation.org poem on the theme of ‘Promises’. The
Kate would recommend her course to first prize is £3000, with second and
others, but only those who are ready for this The poetry school third prizes of £1000 and £500, and
level of study. Year-long courses, one-day workshops and additional cash prizes are awarded to
‘You need to be a practised writer looking every variety of seminar, talk and tutorial in the winners’ schools and colleges. The
to complete a book-length project (poetry or between, face to face, by email and online, contest is also open to home-educated
novel) in two years or slightly longer, plus from the £10 downloadable course for young people, provided that their entry
you need to be prepared to do academic beginners, ‘How to Write Poetry’, to £324, forms are signed by a ‘responsible adult’
critical work on other writers (a 10,000-word one-year ‘Advanced Poetry’ courses. who is not a family member. Further
or more essay) and link this to your own
www.poetryschool.com details from
www.towerpoetry.org.uk
practice. A lot of MPhil students publish
books before, during and after the course, The writers’ Bureau Ts Eliot the nation’s favourite
so you need to be on the cusp of publication Traditional correspondence course, ‘The After more than 18,000 votes were cast
in terms of standard and take your writing Art of Writing Poetry’. Seventeen modules on the Poetry Season site, the BBC has
very seriously – it’s not for hobbyists. There and 12 tutor-marked assignments for £219, announced that TS Eliot is officially the
is no point applying for an MA, MPhil or with up to four years to complete the course. nation’s favourite poet. John Donne came
Masterclass if you haven’t written much, No face-to-face tuition, but students can second and Benjamin Zephaniah – the
so swallow your pride and start at the communicate via a private bulletin board. only living poet in the top ten – third.
beginning. Years ago I did “Versification”
www.writersbureau.com
with Mimi Khalvati at the Poetry School. It poem for hospital
was hard work but perfect grounding in all The open University A new, specially commissioned poem,
the tools you need in your poetry tool kit.’ Poetry courses at various levels, beginning Treatment by Michael Laskey, has been
with the 12-week ‘Start Writing Poetry’, unveiled in the Norfolk and Norwich
Many courses are led by well-known £155, taught online with two tutor-marked University Hospital. Laskey’s work with
poets and take place in educational settings, assignments and carrying ten higher staff and patients was part of an innova-
but others are offered by private individuals. education credit points (counting towards tive, year-long programme to take
Some of these privately run courses provide a certificate, diploma or degree). contemporary poetry into the hospital.
excellent value for money and individual
www.open.ac.uk A cornerstone of The Poetry Treatment
attention, but it’s very much a case of project was the popular ‘Poems on loo
‘buyer beware’. The open College of the Arts doors’, which attracted an estimated
Here’s what you can expect from a few Traditional correspondence courses at three one million reads! Organisers are look-
of the established providers, but there are levels, beginning with level one ‘Poetry’: five ing into ways to continue the project
many more to choose from: units, each with a tutor-marked assignment, through 2010. ‘As far as we know this is
for £595. OCA courses carry HE credits, one of the most ambitious poetry
The Arvon Foundation have very flexible timescales, and can be projects ever to be undertaken in a hos-
Residential courses in beautiful, historic combined to gain a BA in Creative Arts. pital,’ said co-ordinator Emma Jarvis. ‘It’s
houses, led by established poets, costing
www.oca-uk.com been a great success and really bright-
ened people’s days.’
chapbook choice
Harrison wins first PEN/Pinter
Poet and playwright Tony Harrison,
whose poems from the Bosnian front
The Size of a Human Dawn by Ralph Hawkins
line were published in the Guardian, has
become the first recipient of the PEN/
Many poetry readers will know the excellent Skald magazine
Pinter Prize. The prize will be awarded
which came out from north Wales twice a year. Now Skald
has switched to chapbooks. The first fizzes with wit and
annually to a British writer of merit
innovation. It features a striking cover image and is an amazing
whose work encapsulates the principles
bargain at just £3.
of freedom and truth upheld by Harold
Ralph Hawkins always leaves you feeling that we’ve only just
Pinter in his writing career, and the prize
touched the surface of what language can do. This is dizzyingly money is be shared between a writer
original writing that can turn your head into a circus while who exemplifies Pinter’s commitment
refreshing your sense of what poetry can achieve.
to ‘the reality of our times’ and an
To order The Size of a Human Dawn send a cheque for £3
imprisoned writer of courage chosen by
(payable to Skald Community Magazine) to Ian Davidson, School of English, Bangor University,
the UK winner. Harrison chose Maung
Bangor LL57 2DG.
Thura, a Burmese poet, comedian, film
• This Chapbook Choice was recommended by Peter Hughes, who runs Oystercatcher Press, winner
actor and director who is serving 35
of the inaugural Michael Marks Publishers’ Award. His poetry collection The Summer of Agios
years’ imprisonment for leading a relief
Dimitrios was published in 2009 by Shearsman.
effort for victims of Cyclone Nargis.
Writers
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