What is the Poetic Writing Workshop?

The Poetic Writing Workshop is an open workshop for students interested in writing poetry in English. The workshop has been founded by Torsten Caeners in 2008 and has been meeting regularly ever since. The participation in the workshop is entirely voluntary. In this sense it is an extracurricular activity and Credit Points or marks do not play a role in the workshop. In its two years, the workshop has produced on small volume of poetry that was marketed within the department. A new volume is currently in the making…

What does the Poetic Writing Workshop do?

The members of the Poetic Writing Workshop meet more or less regularly during the semester and also in the semester break for sessions of about 90 minutes. In these sessions, the members share the poetry they have written since the last meeting and these texts are discussed openly by the group. This means that constructive criticism is offered, questions of form, word choice, rhythm and metre are addressed and discussed both with regard to specific poems and in general. Often, it is decided that poems for the coming session should deal with a certain topic, or be written in a certain fixed form. Also, exercises and tasks regarding image development and formal aspects are part of the workshop. Since the workshop is a collaborative enterprise, wishes from individual members are taken into account whenever possible and the atmosphere is one of relaxed conversation with coffee, tea and cookies.

What do I have to do to join?

If you wish to join/or simply try out a session to see if it is for you, simply write an email to Torsten Caeners (torsten.caeners[at]uni-due.de) and you will be added to the workshop’s mailing list and thus be informed about the date of the next meeting. The only things you need to bring is a love for poetry and an interest in writing it. Additionally, you should have a decent command of the English language, of course, as this is the basic requirement to start working. We are currently a cozy group of six members, we don’t bite and will welcome anyone who’s interested to contribute.

Trip to St Andrews

In March 2010 the members of the Poetic Writing Workshop undertook an excursion to St Andrews, Scotland, to visit the annual Stanza Poetry Festival. The week-long trip included attendance of various of the Stanza events, among other things the Stanza lecture on Poetry and Myth, a poetry breakfast with discussions on how poets develop, a poetry walk through the historic streets of St Andrews, the beach and the ruins of the great cathedral, and, as the highlight, an reading by Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney and, on the following day, a session of Heaney discussing his life and work with fellow poet Dennis O'Driscoll. During the book signings that followed these events, the members of the Poetry Writing Workshop all got signatures of Heaney and O'Driscoll. In addition to all this, fringe events such as a visit to Scotland's capital Edinburgh, numerous and talkative visits to the local pub and, last but not least, several writing exercises in the inspiring atmosphere of St Andrews made this trip a truly poetic experience.

Poetry Reading by the members of the Poetic Writing Workshop!

On 06.07.2011, the members of the Poetic Writing Workshop will read a selection of their work from the past two years. The reading will celebrate the launch of the workshop’s second full collection of poetry which will be made available to the audience in booklet form. This is a great opportunity to enjoy English poetry written by your fellow students of the UDE’s Department for Anglophone Studies. The reading itself will be between 60 and 75 minutes spiced up with comments by the authors and anecdotes from the workshop and its recent excursion the literary STANZA festival in St Andrew’s.  The reading will start 16.00 in R11 T00 D01. Come along and have a poetic time!

Find additional information here!

Sample poetry from the Poetic Writing Workshop:

(Sample poems will appear here shortly)