Online Workshops

POETRY WORKSHOPS

Poet, critic and Tears in the Fence editor, David Caddy, has more than thirty five years experience teaching poetry and writing in a variety of universities and locations around the world with a range of students.

ONLINE POETRY WORKSHOPS

I shall be holding regular online poetry workshops using email and ZOOM video conferencing.

These workshops will consist of 2,500 word essay sent by email with a set writing task around a technique, theme or issue. The video conferencing will be in two parts. One to discuss the the theme and task, and the second part to provide commentary and feedback on the poems produced. These workshops offer more intense writing experiences for published poets wishing to develop to a more advanced writing level. This will be a special opportunity to interact with other poets whilst also social distancing.

I shall be assuming that poets are reasonably well read and wish to extend their understanding of ways to develop and expand their poetry in a contemporary way. The emphasis will be on strategies to develop both reading and writing skills built upon tradition and experiment through the history of modern poetry. I shall be introducing a range of recent and new poetry, several hot off the press books included.

Recent workshops have been entitled ‘In Praise Of Mistranslation’, ‘The uses and development of Ambiguity’, ‘Poetry and Science’, ‘Fragments: some notes’, and ‘From Darkness to Light in Made-up Play’, ‘The use of memorable lines’, ‘Transitions’, ‘Interior Monologues’, ‘River Poetry’ and so on.

The online workshops has produced some wonderful poems so far and participants are producing a good range of material from the different approaches being presented. The workshops are different, stemming from our rapidly changing world; inspiring, challenging and enlivening. They are available at £20. Please email tearsinthefence@gmail.com to book a space. Due to popular demand I shall be repeating a number of the workshops. ZOOM is a joy to use and much better quality than Skype. Screen Share is a bonus and there have been continual improvements to security this year.

Please pay on the magazine’s website at the Subscribe / Donate page: scroll down for online workshop, which is at the bottom of the subscription type menu.

I am able to offer workshop bursaries as part of our social inclusion policy. Bursary applicants may identify as (but are not limited to) any of the following: BAME writers, writers on no/low income, working class writers, writers from areas of rural or coastal deprivation, writers who have experienced homelessness, refugee writers, writers in the LGBTQ+ communities, writers who have survived abuse, disabled writers, neurodivergent writers, and writers with chronic health conditions.

The next Zoom workshops will be on

Saturday, 11th February from 9.45 am for 10.00 am on Poetic Space

Saturday, 18th February from 9.45 am for 10.00 am on Poetic Space

Saturday, 18th March from 9.45 am for 10.00 am on Beauty

Saturday, 25th March from 9.45 am for 10.00 am on Beauty

Saturday, 22nd April from 9.45 am for 10.00 am Poetry on the experience of experience

Saturday, 29th April from 9.45 am for 10.00 am Poetry on the experience of experience

Saturday, 20th May from 9.45 am for 10.00 am The experience and anthropology of water

Saturday, 27th May from 9.45 am for 10.00 am The experience and anthropology of water

Saturday, 24th June from 9.45 am for 10.00 am Time, Space and the Physical Landscape: Part One

Saturday, 1st July from 9.45 am for 10.00 am Time, Space and the Physical Landscape: Part One

Day Workshops

Saturday, 17th June 2023 at The White Horse Inn, Shaston Road, Stourpaine, Dorset DT11 8TA. Refreshments available from 9.30 am. Workshop starts at 10.00 am. The workshop is on Time, Space and the Physical Landscape.

There will be refreshments, a pub lunch, writing sessions, and critical analysis of poems, critical expositions and the opportunity to share new poems for critical analysis, and to interact with other poets that wish to experiment and move beyond the mundane. Amongst the poets under review will be William Shakespeare, Rae Armantrout, Astrid Alben, Peter Larkin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Clare, Ed Dorn, Gary Snyder, Sophie Mayer, Jerome Rothenberg, Susan Howe, Lorine Niedecker, Lesley Saunders, Geraldine Monk, Vahni Capildeo, Thomas A. Clark, R.F. Langley, Lee Harwood, Hera Lindsay Bird, Eileen Myles, John Wieners, Frank O’Hara, John Donne, Alice Oswald, Dylan Thomas, Shannon Tharp, T.S. Eliot, John Riley, Denise Riley, Steve Ely, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Wallace Stevens, Anne Sexton, Barry MacSweeney, John Ashbery, Abigail Chabitnoy, William Wordsworth, Harriet Tarlo, and so on.

These workshops are £25 per session.

The following workshop at The White Horse Inn, Stourpaine will be on Saturday, 15th July. This will be on first come first served basis. Maximum of eleven places available. 

Refreshments available from 9.30 am at each workshop

Book early to avoid disappointment. All welcome

Please email tearsinthefence@gmail.com to reserve a place

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David is available to give poetry workshops in educational institutions, judge poetry and fiction competitions in schools and the community. He has led poetry workshops since the 1980s and is interested in challenging and stimulating working environments as well as residency work.

Mentoring

This service involves critical appraisals, advice on manuscript preparation and development, and guidance towards full collection publication.