Workshops  are your chance to read and discuss work in progress in a small, informal group. You will find both beginners and established poets who share their thoughts. Fellow workshoppers provide a support network for students seeking to improve their work and aim for magazine  publication.

Leicester Poetry Society runs about seven or more poetry workshops each term on Fridays from 7.00 pm until 9.15 pm at Leicester Adult Education College, Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HL, except when there is a reading  - normally the second week of the month.

Everyone is welcome - you do not need to be a member. The first visit is free, and thereafter a charge of £2 is payable. If you would like constructive feedback on a poem, please bring several copies.

Dates for 2008: Jan 11,   Feb 1, 15, 22, 29,  Mar 28, Apr 4, 18, 25,  May 2, 16, 23, 30,  June 6

“....There were published poets, beginners like me – but we all had a genuine interest of poetry in common. It was great to hear feedback on the presented poems; the Workshop helped me elevate my pastime to a new level.”

Krishna Bakhai

“I have recently returned to the Leicester Poetry Society after a seven-year gap and I am glad I did. Having moved from Leicester to Stoke, one of the first things I did was to look for another poetry society to join. The saying, 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone' springs to mind here, for I simply couldn't find another society that worked to the same high standards as our own.

As I sit in on workshops again (albeit, not as many as I would like to) I am struck by the levels of skill and experience, craftmanship and creativity on display each week. The thoughtfulness and sensitivity that goes into the critical process is also a pleasure to behold. It's never easy bringing your precious 'masterpiece' to share with your peers, and it is a tough process to hear it broken down and its constituent pieces analysed, but it teaches you more about the art and craft of poetry than any other method I know of, short of an Arvon Foundation poetry course.”

Mark Borg

“What to do? Wake up, look at it.  Walk around it. Have coffee or black tea. Stay hungry. look at it again. It's a thing or an  animal on the table.
Be wary. Drink tea. Close the windows, but only half way. Approach it Read it with the cold on the back of your neck. Write it  again as if it weren't you.
That's the secret. -
Write it again, as if it weren't you.
Repeat as many times as necessary. Perhaps begin again.”

A.S.