Ginsberg’s Place and Politics, a poetry masterclass with Alan Fyfe, 11/10/26 - Sunday

This year would have been Allen Ginsberg’s 100^th birthday and so we celebrate his work with the fabulous award-winning Aussie poet and Ginsberg fan, Alan Fyfe. Allen Ginsberg was the heart and soul of The Beat Movement, influenced by, and an influence on, the best minds of his generation.

Join us for a trip through Ginsberg’s life of poetry and wandering, as we explore how he wrote out of the various locations associated with his poems, politics and poetics. From a tumbledown cottage in a Berkley backyard to his final years in a comfortable East Village apartment, each dwelling marks a stage in Ginsberg’s ideas about writing. We'll take a close look at notable works, like Kaddish, and less known pieces such as A Strange New Cottage in Berkley and Tears.

We'll also work on two poems over four writing exercises, influenced by Ginsberg's diverse writing and revision techniques, and we'll explore different ways to let place influence our own work.

Alan Fyfe is a poet, storyteller, and educator from Boorloo (Perth), Australia. His first novel, T, was listed for Australian and international manuscript awards, and was published by Transit Lounge in 2022. His debut poetry collection G-d, Sleep, and Chaos was highly commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Wesley Michel Wright Prize, and won both the award for poetry and book of the year in the WA Premier’s Awards. It also won silver in Flying Islands’ first poetry-manuscript award. His second novel, The Cross Thieves, was published by Transit Lounge in 2026 . His second poetry collection, Short Poems will be available from Gazebo Books later this year.  Alan teaches literature at the University of Western Australia.

2.5 hours long

Start time: 9.30am UK time // 4.30pm Perth Australia // 7pm Adelaide //  6pm Darwin // 6.30 pm Brisbane //  7.30pm Sydney, AEST

Advertised times on this site are in London, UK Timezone, but when you add the event to your calendar it should be correct for your local time zone.

You can check your timezone against London UK time here: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-gadgets/time-zone-converter/

Cost £30 GBP (with cost effective exchange via STRIPE)

Zoom link and materials will be sent by email at least 2 days prior. If you don’t receive it get in touch with me.

More events here https://www.cathdrake.com

This event will be recorded. Our workshops are intended as live and interactive. However, there are a small number of tickets for those keen to come, but who cannot make the date of this workshop that are 'recording only' tickets to be purchased in advance ONLY for those who can't make the date. If you buy a live ticket and don't turn up on the day, you can't access the recording – sorry, it's not a fall back. You need to buy a live OR recorded ticket. This is because we primarily want poets to come and participate in live workshops. 'Recording only' tickets allow access to listen to a recording of the workshop during the 3 weeks following the workshop. (Note that we may share the recording at a future time to new participants.)