‘The longing for the dance stirs in the buried life’ – Stanley Kunitz
‘Don’t be less of a flower, but could you be more of a stone at the same time?’ – Mary Ruefle
Poems are like people, they arrive with distinct energies, changing the air around them. Some poems burst in with a whirlwind of words. Some poems freeze, or contain themselves tightly behind their own lines. On this course with award winning poets Caroline Bird and Hannah Copley, you’ll try on multiple energies – wild, excessive, sparse, meticulous, composed, searing and controlled – and find ways to hold restraint and emotion inside the same poem. Prepare to write a lot of new material.
What to Expect:
• Supportive daily workshops: Morning sessions designed to deepen your craft and develop your poetic voice
• Expert guidance from your tutors: Acclaimed and prizewinning poets share their insights into poetic craft, the redrafting process and how to build a writing practice
• Personal Feedback: Focused 1:1 sessions with your tutors for constructive feedback on your work
• Inspiration from a range of texts: Learn more about technique from the very best of classic and contemporary poetry
• Writing Exercises: Try out new forms and techniques, refine your style and let your creativity take flight
• Community: Share the online space with a small supportive group of fellow writers
Please see the detailed timetable here.
Is this course for me?
These courses are often attended by writers who:
• Want to commit time to their writing but life keeps getting in the way
• Want to set aside five days to focus on their writing
• Need the flexibility and accessibility of attending from their own space
• Would love one-to-one feedback from two professional writers
• Want a live, fully interactive experience with a group of no more than 14 writers
What will I gain?
• Daily interactive mornings workshops to propel your writing forward
• Two 25 minute one-to-one tutorials with experienced tutors
• Free passes to any webinar events happening elsewhere at Arvon at Home during your week with us including masterclasses (each worth £40)
• A reading and Q&A with your tutors
• Daily check-ins
• A group of creative peers who you may decide to keep in contact with after the course
• Support at all times from friendly Arvon hosts
• An inclusive and supportive environment in which to open up creatively
How does it work?
The week starts with an introductory session to get to know you and your writing, and the chance to meet the other writers in the group. Then each day there will be morning workshops designed to move you and your writing forward, and check-ins at the end of each day. You will also be offered one-to-one tutorials with each tutor + a free pass to all readings and masterclasses happening elsewhere at Arvon at Home.
All sessions are delivered live via Zoom meetings, with the option of cameras off or on. Groups are limited to 14 writers so the experience has a bespoke feel.
A more detailed timetable can be found here.
Why Arvon?
Arvon is a not-for-profit charity that has been running since 1968.
At Arvon, everyone who crosses the door of one of our writing houses is a writer – no matter what their age or writing experience – and all are welcome.
About Arvon – Home of Creative Writing since 1968 – Arvon
We are committed to making our Arvon at Home programme accessible to as many people as possible.
Our FAQ page may also helpful.
Across all of Arvon at Home
- All sessions will have auto-generated captioning
- There is a Chat facility to ask any questions.
Online Writing Weeks
- Courses are delivered by Zoom meeting, which means they are not recorded.
- Online writing weeks and months have smaller groups than our other events of up 14 participants, and are interactive with tutors and your fellow course participants. We encourage everyone to participate in the way that is most comfortable. You are welcome to keep your camera and audio on or off, take breaks as needed, and contribute either on audio or in the chat.
- Tutors and participants often use the zoom chat to interact and share resources. If you have access barriers to using the chat, please let us know.
- We use Padlet as a landing page for all course materials, and to provide an optional platform for interaction with your tutors and fellow course participants. If you would like some more information about this, or if you have any access barriers to using this platform, please email arvonathome@arvon.org.
A note on the use of AI and recording
- Due to concerns around privacy, we do not allow the use of external AI transcription services during our online events and courses. Auto-captioning is available across all of our online courses, and the transcript can be viewed during the session. For recorded events (Masterclasses, The Obsidian Black Poetry Lectures and Online Writing Days), the auto-captions, transcript and chatbox can be viewed alongside the recording. Please get in touch via access@arvon.org if you would like to discuss this further.
Subject to funding/permissions/availability (please contact arvonathome@arvon.org for more details)
- Recording of Writing Weeks and Writing Months
- Downloadable transcripts
- BSL interpretation
- Live captioning
If you have any access needs that we have not covered here, please contact us on access@arvon.org
See here for more access information.
Caroline Bird
Hannah Copley
