The Poetry Class – 2024 Edition
All done for 2024! It’s been one heck of a year. To find out what you’ve missed, scroll down.
To be first to find out about classes in 2025, use the contact form below to get yourself added to the class mailing list.
What you’ve missed this year so far …
Summer 2024
January 13 & 20, 2024
Jump-start the Muse
To get you all started on the right footing, two sessions of writing exercises! Yes, the classic Poetry Class Jump-start the Muse returns!
Less intense than last year’s writing blitz, this one will include time for discussion and sharing of the work you produce. Two sessions of writing and sharing, to ease you into a year of poetry.
Suitable for all levels.
Supported by Christchurch City Council Creative Communities Fund.
January 27th to February 9th, 2024
Reading for Writing: Louise Glück
A three session Reading for Writing course looking at the work of a Nobel Laureate who we lost late last year – the American poet, Louise Glück.
We did a single session on her work when she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2020, and barely scratched the surface. Join me for a celebration of the work of one of my favourite poets.
Suitable for all levels.
Supported by Christchurch City Council Creative Communities fund
Autumn 2024
March 30th to April 27th, 2024
Reading for Writing: Odyssey by Anthology
A five session class examining the state of English language poetry through the lens of five anthologies from 2023 – Best American Poetry 2023, The Forward Book of Poetry 2024 (UK), Best of Australian Poems 2023, Best Canadian Poetry 2023, and (assuming it comes out in time) Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2023.
What was on poets’ minds last year? Did different countries have different preoccupations? Is there a distinct national voice? And what exactly makes a “best” poem anyhow?
Supported by Christchurch City Council Creative Communities fund
April 1st to 30th, 2024
Poetry Class Does NaPoWriMo 2024
In celebration of America’s National Poetry Writing Month, The Poetry Class will be hosting our very own version of NaPoWriMo!
Thirty poems in thirty days … every day through the month of April there will be a new prompt, and a private page where you can post and share your resulting poems. The good, the bad, the dreadful – share them all with a supportive group of fellow masochists!
Please note: NaPoWriMo is purely about writing and sharing – while you’ll be able to see and comment on each other’s poems, this isn’t a taught class and there won’t be regular feedback from me – sorry! But there will be an opportunity in early May for a Zoom get-together, to share your favourite poems and talk about what you’ve learned from the process – date t.b.c.
Spring 2024
14th September to 12th October
Shakespeare and the English Sonnet
During September/October, I will be offering a repeat of a Reading for Writing class I last offered in 2014, focusing on Shakespeare and the English Sonnet. A five session course, based on Don Patterson’s wonderful Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and the associated app.
Spring/Summer 2024
9th & 23rd November 2024
The Modern Sonnet A & B
Owing to my inability to look away from Shakespeare’s own work in our Shakespeare and the English Sonnet course, in November I’m offering two single-session classes looking solely at modern sonnets.
How do contemporary poets use the sonnet form? Are UK sonnets different from US sonnets? How do they compare to sonnets from NZ, Australia, Canada, and anywhere else I can find an interesting example lurking?
The two classes are seperate, and intended to stand alone.
A combination of close reading and writing exercises.
Suitable for all levels.
Summer 2024
7th December 2024
Look Onely
To polish off the year in style, a single session Reading for Writing class, looking at one random recent poetry collection pulled from my bookcase. What book will it be? Come along and find out!
A combination of close reading and writing exercises.
Suitable for all levels.
Available in two in-person options at South Library, and an online option via Zoom.
Look Onely
In person
Saturday, December 7th 2024
(one session)
10 am to 1 pm
OR
2 pm to 5 pm
The Boardroom,
South Library
Colombo St, Christchurch
OR
online via Zoom:
Sunday, December 8th 2024
(one session)
10 am to 1 pm
Minimum of 6 maximum of 12 places each option.
Closing date for enrolments: 5th December 2024.
Fee: $20.
A Dark Feathered Art 