A Shape on the Page, Poetry Masterclass with Emily Berry 9/11/26

Wide poems, thin poems, gappy poems, loose poems, tight poems... what kind of poems do you write, or do you want to write?

When we talk about form in poetry, we are often thinking about things like meter and rhyme, whether a poem has a particular formal structure, sonically speaking. But what about its visual form? What about form as the body of the poem?

In this workshop we’ll be thinking about the place where feeling meets form, asking what a poem’s shape tells us about how to read it. We’ll look at poems with lots of white space inside or outside, with single-word lines, solid blocks of text, organic shapes or other typographical structures – in other words poems that might challenge their typesetter, poems whose appearance we can’t help but notice before we have even read a word. We’ll be experimenting with writing our own shapely poems, wondering about the different ways in which language can take shape, and take up space on the page.

Emily Berry is the author of three collections of poetry published by Faber & Faber: Dear Boy (2013), Stranger, Baby (2017) and Unexhausted Time. She works as a freelance writer, editor and broadcaster. Her documentaries for Radio 4 include My Sylvia Plath (2023) and Dreaming of Connie Converse (2024), and she is editor-in-chief of the bedtime stories app Sleep Worlds.1.5 hours long

Start time: 9am UK time // 5pm Perth Australia // 7.30pm Adelaide //  6.30pm Darwin // 7pm Brisbane //  8pm Sydney, AEST // 11am South Africa // 10am Berlin

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

You can also buy a RECORDING if the timing doesn't suit you (for example NZ or USA timezones are too late or too early in the day). Recording available 10/11/26 - 7/12/26 (following the live workshop)

Cost £26 GBP (secure cost effective currency 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. While our workshops work best as live, shared experiences, dates don't always work for everyone. If you can't attend live, you're welcome to purchase a recording-only ticket, which gives you access to the recording for three weeks after the workshop. We recommend choosing a live ticket if you can. The discussion, interaction and sense of community are valuable. Please note that if you book a live ticket but don't attend on the day, the recording won't be available as a fallback. Recordings may be shared with others in the future. You may want to keep this in mind when deciding what you'd like to contribute during the live session. At the same time, as this workshop is a shared creative space, participant contributions must not be copied, quoted, shared, or distributed anywhere else.

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