what

Workshops: Intensive meetings during which a small number of participants share material for critical reading by their peers, the workshops will consist of a round-table discussion during which the participants and instructor offer impressions, observations, and analysis about each piece. Each workshop will have a different theme, and some will focus more heavily on the generation of new work (via writing exercises), while others will emphasize revision and critique. The goal of the workshops is to leave with new ideas and directions for work, as well as insights into the process of writing itself.

Craft talks
: The craft talk is the object lesson of the poetry world. It’s a practical example of principles or concepts–a talking-through of themes and ideas, usually with reference to a specific poet, movement, school, or other unifying topic. These will be short (<60 minute) talks given by the poets, with the opportunity for questions afterwards.

Conferences: In this context, a conference is a one-to-one meeting with a poet, who will have read your work ahead of time (attendees with conference passes will be asked to submit their work; details will be sent with ticket confirmation). These 20-minute sessions give you a chance to have direct, honest, and challenging feedback from a poet who is committed to helping you improve your writing. You’ll also have a chance to ask any questions you’ve been thinking about.

Readings: These readings will showcase the work of the five American poets. The readings will also serve as a chance to purchase the poets’ books. The Nottingham events will culminate on Sunday evening with a reading from all five of the poets. A final reading will take place in London (details TBA April 23!).

Community: We want these four days to be about more than occasional attendance, slipping in and out of rooms, and beginning to recognize faces. Poetry is about community, about developing the fellowship with other writers that sustains you when ice covers the lake and food is scarce and you haven’t written in months. To those ends, we’ll be extending invitations to participants to join the poets and organizers for dinner and other informal gatherings. We hope this will give everyone the chance to get to know one another and develop working relationships that will last much longer than the four days of these events.

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