Poets’ Resources: Online Classes and Workshops
The Palette team is always on the lookout for ways to improve our own craft—being from all around the world, we recently had a discussion about how to use online resources effectively. Special thanks to Sophia Noulas and Esther Vincent for help putting this list together.
The Poetry School $$
A national arts organization based in the U.K., the Poetry School has been around for over twenty years. They even offer a fully accredited Masters degree in Writing Poetry. The learning opportunities are extensive: workshops, online and in-person classes lead by great contemporary poets, downloadable courses, and their renowned CAMPUS network for working poets.
The Loft $$
The Loft is even older: they’ve been teaching poetry outside of universities and colleges since 1974. Their face-to-face courses happen in Minneapolis, while their long list of online courses are available anywhere. Each class is assigned as either Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, according to your needs. Check out the advanced courses for the more in-depth workshops.
The Writers Studio $$$
Philip Shultz founded The Writers Studio with the aim to help “students become stronger, more resourceful writers — with more craft at their disposal, more knowledge of what makes a piece of creative writing satisfying to a reader, and more access to the full range of their emotions and imagination.” They’ve even created their own
The Speak Easy Project $
This one was started by the Blueshift Journal and now has taken on a life of its own, with workshops and editorial services from some of the biggest debut poets of the last few years: Chen Chen, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Paige Lewis, Leila Chatti, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, Paul Tran, Khadijah Queen, Danez Smith, Kaveh Akbar, and many more. If those names don’t get you excited, we don’t know what will. They also offer financial aid to over half of their students.
Catapult $$$
If you, like many poets, are thinking of jumping around genres, Catapult is a great resource for learning prose writing. They’re a community of writers based in New York that span across several genres. They offer in-class weekly workshops, one-off weekend seminars, and online classes. Expensive, but intense.
University of Oxford’s Writing Poetry Course $$$
Offered by the University of Oxford, this is an accredited online writing poetry course that introduces students to writing technique and form. A great beginner course from one of the oldest and most respected universities in the world.
Harvard’s edX Poetry Courses Free
Offered by Harvard University, these nine free online courses have an emphasis on American poetry, with a few outliers. Learn about Whitman, Dickinson, and all the Modernists. This could be a great place to start understanding the giants we’ve all been standing on.
Berklee’s Poet-Songwriter Course $$$$
Offered by the Berklee College of Music, this is an accredited online course for writers, songwriters and poets. Expensive, but the course dives deep into the musicality of language and performance.