Masterclass: Poetry

“… held between finger and thumb the blue

planet, and lifted it up to his watchmaker’s eye.”

– Simon Armitage, The English Astronaut

Award-winning poet Mark Pajak leads a creative workshop exploring the different ways in which you can interrogate and craft vivid and precise imagery in your writing. By studying the inner workings of some of the best contemporary poetry and prose, you will collect and construct your own central and subordinate images in surprising, challenging, and effective ways.

From the blinding to the subtle – the sonorous, kinaesthetic, acrid, textured – you will be encouraged to look past what is immediate to the deeper mechanisms of your images. You will learn how the precision of just one well-chosen word can evoke multiple senses and meanings.

The Masterclass will be delivered via Zoom webinar, so you can take the session at your own pace, without the pressure of having your video or camera on. Sessions are also recorded, so if you are unable to attend live, you will have access to the recording for a month afterwards.

Online: £35

Concessions: £17.50

As part of our effort to increase participation in the arts, a limited number of half-price concessions are available for this course at checkout. There are a limited number of free subsidised places for those who cannot afford the concession price.

We are committed to making our Arvon at Home programme accessible to as many people as possible.

Across all of Arvon at Home

• All sessions will have auto-generated captioning.
• During sessions we will have a text version available via screen share.
• There is a Chat facility to ask any questions.

Masterclasses and Online Writing Day

• A recording of the Masterclass will be available to view for one month after it is aired live.
• There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions.
• Zoom webinar format (your video and audio will remain off throughout, & your name will not be visible to other participants so it is a ‘relaxed’ event).

How I Write

• There is a chat and Q&A facility to ask any questions.
• Zoom webinar format (your video and audio will remain off throughout, & your name will not be visible to other participants so it is a ‘relaxed’ event).

Online Writing Weeks / Weekends

• Courses have much smaller groups than Masterclasses and How I Write events, and are also more interactive with your fellow course participants and tutors, so cameras and audio are usually on (though both are completely optional). If you would prefer your camera and audio to be off, it would be helpful to let your course host know this in advance.

Subject to funding/permissions (please contact us for more details)

• Recording of Writing Weeks and Weekends.
• Downloadable transcripts.
• BSL interpretation.
• Live captioning.

If you have any access issues that we have not covered here, please contact us on access@arvon.org

See here for more access information.