Who:  Brook Emery
When: 6 x Wednesday evenings; 7, 14, 21 & 28 March; 4 & 11 April, 6.30pm-9.30pm
Cost: Full price $540; Member $380; Conc Member $325
Code: 12EMER3

This six-week course is designed to help beginning and intermediate poets get a grasp on what really makes poetry different from prose and what makes poetry (especially their own) come to life. The course is both theoretical and practical and, while concentrating on the writing of poetry, pays due attention to the importance of reading poetry.

Each session will consist of a discussion, with examples and short exercises, of one key aspect of poetry (as outlined in) and the workshopping of one poem by each participant. Typically each discussion will begin with statements and suggestions from practising poets, look at a number of poems which illustrate different approaches to the topic, and invite participants to try short exercises on the topic. Workshopping will take place in a rigorous but encouraging and supportive atmosphere. The main aim of the course is to help poets find their own voices and be able to locate their own poems within the broad range of possibilities gathered under the umbrella term ‘poetry’.

Participants will come away with: an enhanced knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses as poets; an idea of how they can develop their own poetic voices; knowledge of the many different facets which combine to create an effective poem.