Workshop Calendar
View or print our Late Fall 2023 calendar of upcoming offerings and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to hear when our workshops open for enrollment. We are also on Instagram @poetryforge. Please get in touch if you have questions.
Now Enrolling:
First time students often join us for Poetry as Consolation, an ongoing pop-up workshop series that is open to the wider community and friends. This is a chance to write with Holly, learn from guest artists, and leave with a draft of something you would not have written on your own. Sliding scale.
Infinite Imagination (September-November) New in 2023! A process lab for new writing and creativity where we explore the uses and pleasures of prolific iteration while undertaking experiments that involve committing to our obsessions, exploring echoes, and embracing swiftness and looseness. Students will conceive a small project based on their findings in the lab. Online. Space is very limited.
Other Doors: X Ways to Revise a Poem provides essential lessons in the art of revision, helps you become more confident in your ability to edit your work, and prepares students to submit their work for publication in literary magazines and journals. This course is a pre-requisite for anyone who would like to take A Body of Work, which is Holly’s annual manuscript incubator. The next session of this course will happen in 2024.
Now Enrolling
A Home of Heart and Bones (January 2024) A project layout & design workshop with Kat Farrell-Davis where we will explore how to give your art & poetry a place to live in the world. This workshop is especially ideal for writers and artists who are interested in self-publishing a small project. Many take this workshop after completing Oceans Without End or Other Doors: X Ways to Revise a Poem. Details here.
A Body of Work (Janury 11-March 28, 2024) is a manuscript incubator where you receive support and mentorship as you develop your first poetry chapbook manuscript. These courses are a good fit for those who have assembled enough poems to begin thinking in terms of a collection. It is recommended that the student participates in Oceans Without End and Other Doors: X Ways to Revise a Poem is a pre-requisite before joining ABOW. Applications open in November for the follow year’s cohort. Details here.
Winter 2024:
The Casual Union of Working Poets is an affinity group and community space that gathers monthly (First Fridays at Noon EST and Third Thursdays at 3 pm EST) to write and share from work in progress under the mentorship of Holly Wren Spaulding and occasional guest teachers. The atmosphere in these gatherings is warm and encouraging and many members have formed sustaining friendships and begun creative collaborations within this community. Enrollment opens in December for the following year’s membership.
A Secret Life offers a gentle framework for how to listen, imagine, and steward the creative call of something personally significant: an art project that matters to you. In this special winter workshop series you will be supported in a process of finding freedom, space, and confidence to materialize your secret life and a secret project in any media.
Spring & Summer 2024:
For a Meadow: 13 Ways to Seed a Wildland of Poems. An asynchronous, generative writing experience to support your personal practice. April 2024.
Oceans Without End is a summer practice period for poets and secret poets where we learn about the Zuihitsu form, write at a pace that suits the summer season, and create a small compendium of our work: A Water Book. June-August.
Poetry Forge has begun collaborating with guest teaching artists across genres—visual artists, herbalists, Buddhist seminarians, musicians, philosophers, among others, who bring ideas and inspiration to the Poetry as Consolation series. These pop-up workshops offer an enjoyable way to dip your toes into what we do at Poetry Forge. Keep an eye on our Instagram for updates on special topic workshops and be sure to join our mailing list to hear about Free workshops and special offerings as they arise.
Creative Advising & Feedback
Holly takes on a limited number of private clients for creative advising and manuscript feedback each season. At present, these sessions are only available to members of the Casual Union of Working Poets. You can book with her here.
Our next gathering happens on Tuesday, January 16 from Noon-1:00 pm Eastern Time with poet C.S. Mills, author of Drift Gestures.
These pop-up community writing workshops offer a warm space for new writing, with inspiration and insights from guest artists. Hosted by Holly Wren Spaulding and Poetry Forge. Sliding scale.
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