Poetical Workshop
Do you struggle to make time and space for poetry? Are you looking for inspiration, motivation, expert guidance and a nurturing community to help you hone your craft, develop your unique voice, and thrive?
Poetical is a flexible online workshop community designed to bring poetry into your everyday life. We aim to make regular, sustainable poetry reading and writing possible for everyone— whatever your life stage or time commitments. We help poets to put down roots and grow in our lively, playful and respectful online workshop space.
When you sign up you’ll get regular poetry prompts (text and video) and reading resources, plus access to the Poetical resource library and the community’s main chat channels and meeting spaces. In the next year we’ll have prompts from some fabulous guest poets, including Cath Drake, Jacqueline Saphra, Sarah Howe, Kayo Chingonyi, JLM Morton and more.
If you choose to become a Sharing member you’ll also be able to join Zoom writing hours and live workshop and Q&A sessions, plus you’ll share your poem drafts in a supportive, moderated chat space with accountability, encouragement and feedback from your tutor and peers.
Hosted in one easy-to-use, mobile-accessible online space on Heartbeat community platform, Poetical Workshop connects you to a growing tribe of poets, and brings the challenge and joy of a regular, focused poetry writing practice into your life.
How can Poetical Workshop help me make space for poetry?
Have a look at our memberships to find out what suits you best.
All members get regular, high-quality reading resources and video prompts within the online workshop community, plus access to the resources library.
If you’re receiving government benefits payments or on a low income, get in touch for discounted membership.
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Inspiration membership includes:
A prompt (up to five minutes of video or audio) and accompanying reading resource twice every month
Access to the entire Poetical resource library, including prompts, resources on key aspects of craft, and recordings of live Zoom sessions
Updates on competition and submission deadlines and other relevant poetry news and opportunities
Access to the main Poetical Workshop chat channels and spaces, including Zoom hangouts and collaborative activities
10% off all courses hosted in Poetical Workshop, including masterclass in-depth feedback sessions, and all courses or organised and taught by Kate Potts (online and in person).
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Sharing membership includes all the Inspiration membership benefits, plus:
Weekly writing hours on Zoom
A sharing forum where you can post your poems and receive appreciation, encouragement and brief feedback from your tutor and peers
Regular opportunities to share and discuss poetry challenges and successes in a supportive environment
Monthly live Ask Anthing and lunchbreak craft workshop sessions (Zoom)
A 20% discount on all Poetical courses, including masterclass feedback sessions, and all poetry courses organised and taught by Kate Potts (online and in person).
Please note:
There are short breaks from writing hours for national holidays. Poem drafts are guaranteed a brief tutor response of up to three sentences on the Sharing channel. A (paid) in-depth feedback course is available in Poetical Workshop for those seeking a smaller group and a more detailed response.
Workshop Testimonials
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'I cannot praise Kate Potts’ poetry writing courses highly enough. So far I’ve attended three. She is a skilled, generous and sensitive tutor who can guide the dynamics of a writing group to produce work that astounds! She presents well-researched material you want to get your teeth into, stimulating prompts/homework, and excellent feedback and editing suggestions. Brilliant! Thank you Kate.'
Caroline Shaw, Wise Women Poetry Workshop (in person)
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'It's been a joy working together. I've learned a lot, read the work of writers I hadn't previously heard of, and I’ve really enjoyed reading all of our different prompt and workshop poems too. There's a chapter in the Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver that speaks about the experience of writing workshops. It's been lovely experiencing one myself!'
Wieke Vink, Wise Women Poetry Workshop (online)
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'Kate is a transformative poet and educator. Kate’s support of her students was unwavering, her excitement around poetic craft was infectious, her feedback comprehensive, constructive and sincere. She fostered in me a confidence predicated on a greater understanding of poetic form and function, and a sort of writerly instinct that ultimately affords me the ability to interrogate my own work.'
Elizabeth Morton, Oxford University Writing Poetry course (online)
Why I Built Poetical Workshop
I’m a poet and creative writing lecturer with 20 years’ experience of helping writers to thrive. I’ve taught online workshops for organisations including Oxford University, Middlesex university and The Poetry School. I love the wonderful creative alchemy—the risk, discovery and transformation—that can happen in a writing workshop.
When I became a solo parent and moved away from London I felt out of the loop. Time for reading and writing poetry was more scarce and more precious than ever, and digital technologies were a lifeline. I began to ask myself: what would a truly flexible, accessible, high quality online workshop look like? I wanted to use the recent huge advances in online learning technologies to build a poetry workshop that was flexible enough for poets who, like me, have busy lives, or need the support and camaraderie of a writing community.