The Barbican Young Poets project, or Barbican Poets as we’re used to calling it, is something I established in partnership with the Barbican in 2008 after moving on from the Roundhouse Poets programme. More than just another poetry workshop, it’s a community of emerging poets, designed to push participants’ creative abilities to new heights. Exploring diverse aspects of writing and performance, Barbican Poets draw on their passions, personal experience and the sights and sounds of the venue’s rich artistic programme to develop and showcase their work.

The project typically runs from early October through to the end of March, and caters for poets between 14 and 21 years of age. For me, it’s an absolute joy to work with a set of diverse writers and performers who all share the desire to push whatever it is that they do with poetry. No matter how long they’ve been writing or how confident they are (or aren’t!) at the start, all of the poets on the programme share a passion for writing. Over 6 months, the course rolls out fortnightly, with a final showcase event and other opportunities to present work to Barbican audiences, often in conjunction with the Barbican gallery.

There’s always a good balance of old and new – ranging from people who’ve never participated in anything like it before, to other young poets I’ve worked with in previous terms or on other poetry projects. We cover as much as we can in the time, although it always feels like there’s never enough: strategies for generating poems, poetics and manifestos, traditional forms, guidelines for editing and critique, and always plenty of prompts to keep people turning out new work. I’m often able to invite at least one guest poet to lead a masterclass session during the course of the project, and I’m supported by my co-tutor Dorothy Fryd in each session.

For more on the Barbican Poets programme, check out the website
Or have a look at the associated Barbican page

On a more personal note, the programme gives me an opportunity to continue working with a growing family of emerging poets and performers. There’s a nice mix of new faces and people that have been through a few workshops with me before. Suffice to say, I’m really looking forward to it.

Image courtesy of Katie Henfrey.