…..How poems have minds of their own and what we can do to discover their secrets.
In this course, we’ll be exploring how we, as poets, can best serve the poems we write. It’s all-too easy to think we know what we want to say – but what if the poem has other ideas?
In writing workshops, we’ll focus on trusting our poems and on learning how to be comfortable with the uncertainty that a new poem brings.
Suitable for both new and experienced poets, this course will appeal to those looking to explore writing poetry within a supportive environment.
Workshops, readings and tutorials will investigate where poems come from and where they can take us. We’ll consider the power and mystery of poetry – how we can make our poems fully open to the unexpected and to the urgency of language itself.
Writing exercises will be designed to create moments of surprise and discovery while one-to-one tutorials will provide an opportunity for detailed feedback on new poems or work in progress.
Bring along some poems by poets you admire so that we can explore and share them during the week.
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Tutor: Katharine Towers – Poet Katharine Towers was born in London and now lives in the Peak District. She has published three collections with Picador, most recently Oak, a book-length poem about the life of an oak tree which was a Poetry Book of the Month in The Guardian. The Floating Man (2010) won the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize and The Remedies (2016) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and was a Poetry Book of the Month in The Observer. A fourth collection is forthcoming from Picador in 2026. A pamphlet let him bring a shrubbe exploring the life and work of the twentieth-century English composer Gerald Finzi was published by The Maker’s Press in 2023. In 2019 HappenStance Press published another pamphlet The Violin Forest. Her poems have been read on Radios 3 and 4 and she has been interviewed on Woman’s Hour. A poem from her first collection appeared as a Poem on the Underground. Other poems have appeared in The Guardian, Poetry Review and Poetry London and in several anthologies including the Forward Book of Poetry, She is Fierce and Off the Shelf edited by Carol Ann Duffy. Katharine is an experienced poetry tutor, running residential and online poetry courses as well as Poetry Surgeries for the Poetry Society and workshops and masterclasses at universities and literary festivals. |
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Guest, Wednesday evening: John Glenday – poet John Glenday is the author of four collections. ‘Grain’ (Picador 2009) was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize and the Ted Hughes Award and ‘The Golden Mean’ (Picador 2015) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year and won the 2016 Roehampton Poetry Prize. His most recent publications are a limited edition artbook ‘mira’, (Coast to Coast to Coast 2019) and a pamphlet, ‘The Firth’ (Mariscat Press). His Selected Poems came out with Picador in 2020. He is a judge for the Saltire First Book Award, 2024. |
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| PRICES |
Fee includes all day and evening tutored workshop sessions, individual tutorials, tutor and guest readings, accommodation, inc. sheets and towels and all meals (not including alcohol). Single – En-suite room £1,115 |
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| TO BOOK |
£200 deposit payable on booking by bank transfer, PayPal or cheque, to secure place. Balance due six weeks before the start of the course. Please see Terms and Conditions. |
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| STRUCTURE OF THE WEEK | See Structure of the Week (tab above) | |||||
| WHAT TO BRING |
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| START TIME |
Please arrive between 3:00pm and 4:30pm on Monday 10th November 2025 Tea, cake and housekeeping information 4.30pm Introductory Workshop 5.30 – 6.30pm Dinner 7.00pm |
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| END TIME |
After breakfast, 10:00am on Saturday 15th November 2025 |
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| LOCATION | The Garsdale Retreat, Clough View, Garsdale Head, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5PW Nearest railway station: Garsdale, on the Leeds – Carlisle line. For directions, see Find Us section on the Contact page. |
All courses start on Monday afternoon.
Arrival time 3.00 – 4.00pm.
4.30pm: Housekeeping/Course information with tea and cake
5.30 – 6.30pm: Introductory workshop
7.00pm: Dinner
All courses end after breakfast on Saturday (10.00am).
Course Structure Tuesday – Friday
8.00 – 9.00am: Breakfast
9.30 – 11.00am: First workshop – Participants explore particular aspects of poetry and take part in writing exercises to further their understanding and expertise. All participants have opportunities to share their work with the tutor and fellow writers in a safe, supportive and nurturing environment in which individual work is respected and confidence developed.
11.00 – 11.30am: Coffee break
11.30am – 1.00pm: Second workshop
1.00pm Lunch. After lunch, participants are free to do whatever they like, such as: relax, go for walks, read or work on individual writing projects.
4.30pm: Tea and cake
5.30 – 6.30pm: Third workshop
7.00pm: Dinner
All participants on a course have one individual tutorial of 30 minutes with the tutor in the course of the week. These will take place in the afternoons.
Each evening, at 8.30pm, there is an after-dinner event:
Tuesday – the tutor will read from their work.
Wednesday – reading from a guest writer.
Thursday – poetry/music performance from Hamish and Rebecca.
Friday – a shared reading of the ‘work-in-progress’ anthology produced during the week.
