Author Jacob Sam-La Rose will be running a free self-led email course on developing your poetic practice in Autumn/Winter 2023.
“…just pay attention, then patch a few words together” wrote the late poetry titan, Mary Oliver, in her poem, Praying. This could be a base philosophy for an engagement with poetry, and yet you’d be forgiven for any cynicism you might feel towards advice that begins with the word “just”.
How do you establish or maintain a writing practice when life keeps getting in the way? Where do you find inspiration when you’ve exhausted your usual sources, or you want something more than your own go-to tools and techniques? How do you continue to keep your writing fresh and engaging, even (and perhaps particularly) for yourself?
What can you expect from taking part?
With reference to the works of Terrance Hayes, Shira Erlichmann, Lynda Barry and a host of other writers, artists and thinkers, this course will offer you a series of sparks and starting points, exercises for developing your work further, and a profound invitation to interrogate and examine your own relationship with what and how you write.
Who is this for?
This course is open to poets of all abilities. It may be particularly well suited to those at the beginnings of their journeys as writers, but will equally serve those seeking to shake things up and tread some less familiar paths towards generating new work.
Email dates
Course Email 1 – Thursday 9 November 2023
Course Email 2 – Thursday 16 November 2023
Course Email 3 – Thursday 23 November 2023
Course Email 4 – Thursday 30 November 2023
Course Email 5 – Thursday 7 December 2023
Access
This course is designed with creativity and accessibility at its heart; it is free to take part in, optimised for screen reading, and includes transcriptions.
If you know someone who would like to take part who doesn’t have a computer or internet access, you can contact us and we can print and post the courses (UK only).
About Jacob
Jacob Sam-La Rose is a poet, facilitator, programme leader, artistic director and editor. He’s been responsible for a series of renowned creative development programmes, most notably Barbican Young Poets, which he established in 2009 and continues to lead. Among other appointments, Jacob has served as the inaugural Poetry Fellow for English Heritage, Poet-in-Residence at Raffles Institution (Singapore), and poetry professor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His collection ‘Breaking Silence’ was shortlisted for Fenton Aldeburgh and Forward Poetry prizes and is studied as an A-level set text. His poetry has been translated into Portuguese, Latvian, French and Dutch.