Writing Poems Writing Poems Writing Poems

Writing Poems

A playful, supportive three-month poetry course for beginners and aspiring poets, with two of the best practitioners and teachers in the country – at Faber, the home of British poetry.

Level

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Starting out

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Location

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London

Length

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12 weeks
  • Start Date
  • Time
  • Thursdays, 19.00–21.00

Places available

£795

£795

£200 / month for 2 months and a £395.00 deposit

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Discover the craft of poetry

Over the course of three months, join poets Rachel Long and Richard Scott for weekly classes as you share your work with like-minded fellow writers, learn new techniques and develop your reading and appreciation of poetry.

Together, our experienced tutors have put together a course aimed at inspiring writers so that they create new poems, learn to make more discerning judgements about their own work, and are inspired afresh by poetry. The course aims to be positive, supportive and fun, so that by the end of the twelve weeks, each poet will come away invigorated by a desire to write the best work they can, and in possession of new poems to set them on their way. We'll end the course with an evening designed to help you navigate the next steps too.

Is this the right course for me?

This course is suitable for writers who are just starting out, and for those who wish to continue developing their work. You may have been writing poetry for years – squirreling away fragments or working by yourself; or perhaps you’ve always wondered about how to turn your ideas into poems but don’t know where to begin. Either way, you want to take your craft to the next level – and this course is the place to do it.

The Faber Academy Scholarship Programme

There are scholarship places available on this course for writers who otherwise could not afford to attend. We particularly welcome applications from writers of colour, disabled writers and LGBTQ+ writers.

 

To apply, please submit three poems, along with your covering letter (both as Word docs or PDFs) to academy@faber.co.uk, with the subject line ‘Scholarship Application: Writing Poems – April 2025’. The full terms and conditions and more information about our scholarship programme can be found below.

 

The deadline for application is Sunday 6 April at 23:59.

    This course takes place on Thursday evenings at Faber's offices in central London, running from 19.00 until 21.00.

Course Programme

Session 1

Thursday 24 April, 19.00–21.00

An Introduction to the Course with...

Session 2

1 May, 19.00–21.00

Introduction to the Lyric (and Ant...

Session 3

8 May, 19.00–21.00

Voice and Tone with Rachel...

See remaining sessions

Course Programme

Writing Poems

Session 1

Thursday 24 April, 19.00–21.00

An Introduction to the Course with Richard and Rachel

In this first session you’ll meet Rachel and Richard, your poetry tutors, who’ll introduce you to the course. Then we’ll explore ‘reading like a writer’ together. And, crucially, we’ll start writing with a guided freewrite.

Session 2

1 May, 19.00–21.00

Introduction to the Lyric (and Anti-Lyric) with Richard

Thinking through the tropes of lyric poetry – via Sappho, Rilke and Louise Glück – and what they might have to offer us as poets. Also, what is anti-lyric?

Session 3

8 May, 19.00–21.00

Voice and Tone with Rachel

Explore elements of voice, diction, syntax and audience, as well as how to manipulate, cosplay and experiment with writing a persona poem.

Session 4

15 May, 19.00–21.00

Editing and Drafting with Richard

By examining the drafts of various poems by Ada Limón, and one of Richard’s own, this session will explore the hermit act of editing and uncover what tools and choices might improve our work.

Session 5

22 May, 19.00–21.00

Indulging our Obsessions with Rachel

What we are drawn to writing (and reading) is personal and can majorly inform our work. In this session, we’ll try to identify what subjects/themes make us tick and how to harness them in our work.

Session 6

29 May, 19.00–21.00

Line Breaks and a Prose Poem with Richard

Inspired by Sharon Olds, Gwendolyn Brooks and Arthur Rimbaud, this session asks how and when we might break the line in poetry? And what constitutes a line for that matter anyway? And just what is a prose poem?

Session 7

5 June, 19.00–21.00

Making it New! with Rachel

There’s 'nothing new under the sun', but how can we make our poems feel new, fresh; how can we avoid cliché, abstractions, and overused tropes; how can we use metaphor in a way that makes the reader consider the world anew?

Session 8

12 June, 19.00–21.00

The Poetry Workshop with Richard

Inspired by the act of sharing a poem of your own, this session will explore ideas surrounding the poetry workshop. Just how might we learn and grow from feedback? And just how might we interact with someone else’s poem and give them constructive feedback? And of course we’ll be having our own supportive poetry workshop too, so get your poem ready...

Session 9

19 June, 19.00-21.00

Portals and Time Travel with Rachel

Manipulating time and memory, looking at Kim Addonizio’s ‘Florida’, and Kevin Prufer’s ‘Churches’.

Session 10

26 June, 19.00-21.00

The Sonnet and Some Uses for Form with Richard

Inspired by Jo Shapcott, Daljit Nagra, William Shakespeare and Terrance Hayes, this session will explore the sonnet’s enduring power and examine just what its many tools, including the volta, might offer you as a poet writing today.

Session 11

3 July, 19.00-21.00

Writing the Body with Rachel

What is it to write poems about the form we live inside? How can concentrating on the physical make way for revelations of the psychological and spiritual? In this session, we’ll look at poems by Sharon Olds, Claudia Rankine, and Hannah Sullivan.

Session 12

10 July, 19.00-21.00

Consolidation, Next Steps & Group Reading with Richard and Rachel

In this session we’ll be thinking about the next steps on your poetic journey – including publishing & how to perform your own poetry – and there’ll be a celebratory group reading.

Tutors

richard-scott-tutor

Richard Scott

Richard Scott was born in London in 1981. His pamphlet Wound (Rialto) won the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2016 and his poem...

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Richard Scott
Rachel Long.

Rachel Long

Rachel Long’s debut collection, My Darling from the Lions was published by Picador in the UK, in 2020, and by Tin House, in the US, in 2021. It was shortlisted for...

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Rachel Long

It was really good – the weeks were structured to address different aspects of reading and writing poetry but they also progressed from beginning to write to editing to reading your poetry out loud.

Writing Poems Student

Generally excellent. Very supportive and positive. Full of wisdom and insights.

Writing Poems Student

They were amazing, supportive, encouraging but also pushed me to do things I might not have done otherwise.

Writing Poems Student

Richard was wonderful. Warm, supportive, curious, encouraging.

Writing Poems Student

Generally excellent. Very supportive and positive. Full of wisdom and insights.

Location

The Bindery

51 Hatton Garden

London EC1N 8HN

How to get here

Faber’s office, The Bindery, is well connected by public transport, with Farringdon Station just five minutes’ walk away, and stops for several bus routes in the area too. If you’re coming from outside of London, the office is a short bus or taxi journey from Kings Cross, Euston and St Pancras stations.

Browse the Reading Room

From author interviews and writing tips to creative writing exercises and reading lists, we've got everything you need to get started – and to keep going.