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Many Lanterns: Winter 2026

sparks to illuminate the poet's path


December 1, 2026 until February 4, 2027.

 

Full course access begins December 1.

Register Now

You will fill the lamps with kerosene,
knowing somewhere a line breaks,
a city goes black,
people dig for candles in the bottom drawer.
You will be ready. You will use the song like a match.

—Naomi Shihab Nye

A Winter Invitation


Many Lanterns offers a season of warmth and creative renewal—brief, illuminating lessons to help you write through the darkness and kindle your poetic fire.

Each voice-guided lesson includes a companion poem, and a gentle writing provocation to initiate a new piece of writing. Together they nurture both your writing hearth and your poet’s heart, helping you collect a constellation of fresh drafts to carry into the new year and beyond. 

We also work on a special project: A Lantern Book. This process ensures that you don't forsake your work, by gathering it into a shapely collection.

When the light grows dim, we gather close to the flame. Join us.

You Will Receive

This experience has been distilled to the essentials of a consistent and inspiring practice, offering poets (and secret poets):

  • More than 30 invitations to begin new poems with original, interesting writing provocations—you’ll leave with as many drafts if you complete them all.

  • Companion readings from exceptional poets, each carefully chosen to ignite possibility and deepen your understanding of the art of poetry.

  • Craft guidance and poetic techniques to help you stay with your new work, rather than setting it aside.

  • Retreat kit—Register by November 15 and receive a hand assembled gift box containing thoughtful items to enrich your experience. US addresses only.

  • Voice-guided lessons —hear the day's poem read and discussed by Holly Wren Spaulding, and settle into the calm warmth of a companionable Virgil on your path.

  •  Course booklet with all readings and writing provocations to allow you to work away from a screen.

  • A final project template and process to collect your work into a Lantern Book.

  • Live Gatherings on Zoom—where we write together, find rhythm, and benefit from each other's energy and ideas. Recordings provided in the course portal.

For You, If... 


You long to connect to that quiet source of heat within yourself.


You wish to feel creatively alive in the stillness of winter.


You’re seeking gentle structure, encouragement, and poetic company to sustain your writing through the long nights.


Whether you move through the lessons in three weeks or stretch them across the season, Many Lanterns will keep your poetry lamp from going dark.

What Poets Are Saying

“I love having these Lantern lessons and ideas! The poems are amazing, and the little prompts are much bigger than ‘little prompts.’ They’ve been an unexpected lifeline. Not only have I written, but I’ve changed some things I do as a result of Holly's ideas. It’s really changed me both body and soul.”
— Kris, January 2025

“Holly's voice has been a balm. With her vocal encouragement, I’ve written a little each day this season.”— Cathy, January 2025

“These sessions created a small, sacred space in my mind about writing—reminding me why I do it.”— Dave, Winter 2025

Join Us

Join us during the season of long nights. Let us walk through the darkness together.

Your lantern bearer is Holly Wren Spaulding, a poet and teacher known for her creative, trustworthy, and transformative methods.

You are encouraged to register by November 15 to receive a special box in the mail, in time for our first Live workshops in December. 

Enroll Now

Writing by Lantern Light


We'll sit side by side on Zoom and write something new. It's always a pleasure. 

In December, our opening workshops offer a way to begin the season in community: to slow down, listen closely, and feel the quiet companionship of other writers. We'll set the mood and find a gentle pace for your writing.

In February, the workshops will bring us back together, for reflections, revision, and recommitments.

Join when you can, or enjoy Many Lanterns at your own pace, via the workshop recordings in the portal.  

Live Sessions on Zoom

Opening workshops (come to one or both):

December 1, Tuesday. 4-5 pm ET

December 3, Thursday. 12-1 pm ET

 

Closing workshops (come to one or both):

February 2, Tuesday. 4-5 pm ET

February 4, Thursday, 12-1 pm ET

Holly Wren Spaulding is an award-winning writer, teaching artist, and the founder of Poetry Forge, where she leads creative writing workshops, retreats, and a manuscript incubator for poets.

A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy’s creative writing program, she holds advanced degrees from the University of Michigan and Trinity College Dublin. In addition to running her own school, she teaches for Interlochen College of Creative Arts. In 2026 she began offering a year-long training program, Imagination School. She has also taught at Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Kripalu Institute, Beargrass Writers Retreat, Glen Arbor Art Association, Leelanau Cultural Center, and in Scotland at The Blue Shore Writers Retreat.

Her recent books include Familiars (Alice Greene & Co., 2020), Fire (St. Brigid Press, 2021), and Between Us (Alice Greene & Co., 2022). Her poems and essays have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Witness, Poetry Northwest, The New York Times, and in several anthologies, including The Poetry of Presence and The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal.

She lives and writes on the southern seacoast of Maine.