Brooklyn Poets offers small, intensive poetry workshops taught by award-winning poets, both online and in person at our new space at 144 Montague Street in historic Brooklyn Heights! Workshops are offered in three seasons (winter–spring / summer / fall) at three different levels: 1) Foundational Forms, 2) Contemporary Practice, and 3) Manuscript Review. Workshops typically run for 5–7 weeks, with one three-hour session per week on weeknights or weekend afternoons/early evenings. Some workshops consist of just one or two sessions. Each workshop season culminates in a Workshop Showcase, which all students are invited to participate in. Admission to Levels I and II is by open enrollment; Level-III workshops require a writing sample.
In addition to our workshops, we offer hour-long drop-in classes focused around different forms, themes and approaches to reading and writing poetry, including Youth Summer Saturdays. We also offer three-hour virtual craft labs on elements of poetic craft. Our signature Mentorship Program provides developing writers with twelve months of immersive training in becoming a poet, conducted completely online. Students in need can apply for a Brooklyn Poets Fellowship to participate in a workshop for free or at reduced cost. Students can also apply for financial aid to participate in our craft labs or enroll in our Mentorship Program.
Grounding in the basics of poetic form, from metered verse to free verse. Students study models of a different formal approach every week and practice and workshop their own poems in the form. Each workshop focuses on a specific formal practice area, such as blank verse, the sonnet, odes, etc. No prior experience writing or reading poems necessary. Meant for beginning writers and readers of poetry, as well as more experienced poets wishing to shore up aspects of their formal practice. View all workshops here.
Specialized workshops intended to push students beyond their usual compositional practice. Greater emphasis on working with contemporary methods and materials and drawing upon alternative modes of poetic production. Assignments and exercises sometimes take students outside the classroom to engage with the city in creative ways. Prior experience writing or reading poems is recommended, but not required. Ideal for students with some grounding in the conventions of poetic form looking to explore new avenues for writing. View all workshops here.
Advanced workshops providing feedback on previously written manuscripts, either book-length projects or shorter portfolios. Preparation of manuscripts for submissions and applications, as relevant. Meant for experienced writers: application with manuscript required. View all workshops here.
In our hour-long drop-in classes, teachers guide students through generative writing exercises and/or discussions of poems using different model poems, lessons and prompts each session. Weekly sessions focus around different forms, themes and approaches to reading and writing poetry. Sharing of work by participants is encouraged but optional. Read more.
Three-hour webinars offering intensive instruction on elements of poetic craft, ranging from prosody and other formal techniques to approaches to the writing process and revision. Read more.
Our signature Mentorship Program provides developing writers with twelve months of immersive training in becoming a poet under the sustained guidance of a mentor, conducted completely online. Read more.
Each workshop season, we award fellowships to promising students in need to enroll in a workshop or manuscript consultation for free. Read more.
