Coffee-House Poetry : Readings, Classes, Prizes

welcome

from Coffee-House Poetry organiser, Anne-Marie Fyfe

With current themed creative-writing course, Solitary Spaces, coming to an end, & Between the Lines masterclass starting Fri 3 Mar, our next themed course offers a chance to explore the poetry of night in Nocturne (see right) over nine weeks from Sun 5 Mar. Meet me on the dark side!

And just a reminder of the outstanding poems that captivated judges Victoria Kennefick & Joshua Bennett & that we got to hear from 2022 Troubadour International Poetry Prize winners — Jonathan Edwards, first prize, £2,000, Anna Crowe, second, £1,000, Robert Maslen third, £500 — & from twenty excellent ‘commendeds’ on our Mon 5 Dec international Zoom, along with super readings from Victoria & Joshua.

Check out poets & poems here, & read what our judges had to say about the 2022 judging process!

#poetrymondays on Zoom!

mon 5 dec, 7.30 pm: troubadour international poetry prize night: 2022 judges victoria kennefick & joshua bennett (free online event) with 2022 prizewinners
mon 13 june, 7.30 for 8pm: £10, bedford park festival poetry evening: the poetry of things With special guest: cahal dallat, hosted by anne-marie fyfe
mon 23 may, 8pm: tom sleigh & cahal dallat: reading & in-conversation (free online event)

See full details of poetry readings

classes & courses

sun 5 mar—sat 6 may, £280: nocturne: a 9-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
fri 3 mar—sat 29 apr, £240: between the lines #12 – focus on form#2, a 7-wk close reading & critical masterclass with cahal dallat
sun 15 jan—sat 18 mar, £280: solitary spaces: 9-wk creative-writing workshop series on solitude, with anne-marie fyfe
2022
sun 9 oct—sat 10 dec: taking a walk: the poetry of footfall: 9-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
fri 7 oct—sat 3 dec: between the lines #11, a 7-wk close reading & critical masterclass with cahal dallat
sun 28 aug—sat 10 dec: home truth: architecture & longing: 12-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
…

See full details of classes and workshops

(pic: End-Times: Richard Acid-Rayne)

next event

sun 5 mar—sat 6 may, £280: nocturne: a 9-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe

Take a walk on the dark side, discover day’s other half, literally or as state-of-mind, a slippery terrain of secrets, allure, mystique & shadow-play.

Sign up for the night-shift, board the night-bus, sleepwalk your creative inner self through moon-dark woods or street-lit cities, be prepared to lose yourself in an astronomical night-sky of galaxies & lunar magnetism.

Explore those pitch-dark, ticking, dusk-to-dawn hours as both lacuna & otherness, as somnolent or turbulent, as nightmare or night-music, just as writers, artists, musicians & philosophers have always probed the night’s depths. The dark, Rilke says, embraces everything.

Your Nocturne exercises, images, ideas & inspiration will arrive in your inbox every Sunday for six weeks ending with a (week seven) module giving advice on shaping/structuring/polishing your work. Two weeks later there’ll be a written appraisal of your submitted excerpt, followed by an end-of-course Zoom reading!

Numbers limited, email coffpoetry@aol.com to apply, & booking link will be forwarded if place available.