Pour the poet into the art and the art into the poet.
Poets Studio is based on the idea that focusing on goals is the key to lasting growth as a poet. Poets Studio is a weekly workshop that runs from October 1 - May 31 each year (January - June 2020). It is designed to give form and focus to your poetry writing. The Poets Studio is open to applications from all poets (see application information below). Poets join the Poets Studio either as members or as auditors and attend for the entire session. This creates the Poets Studio's special experience: a steady, supportive, and comprehensive study of your poetry among other poets.
Modeled after the famed Actors Studio (whose members included Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro, Norman Mailer, Eli Wallach, Sidney Poitier, Edward Albee, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean), the Attic Institute's Poets Studio provides a private place for poets to work together in the development, experimentation, and completion of new poems and sequences of poems.
The philosophy of the Poets Studio: A poet's lifetime of experiences is the basis to develop poetic art, method, and practice— culminating in the creation, revision, and publication of new poetry. This approach to writing poems invites a wonderful sense of accountability, and it teaches you to experiment and learn more about your subjects, your style, and your capacity for growth as a poet in a highly supportive and focused atmosphere.
Becoming a member of the Poets Studio: The Poets Studio is open to all poets. Poets Studio meets for 30 weeks from September - June (24 weeks for 2020, January - June). All new members receive David's private reading list called "The First One-Fifty," which is comprised of 150 poems from anonymous to Auden that all poets in the studio are asked to read. By joining the Poets Studio, poets confirm that writing and publishing poetry is a practice that calls for extended and sustained study. To apply to join the next Poets Studio, please send ten (10) pages of poems and a 250 words "Statement of Goals" to the Attic Institute. Deadline to apply is December 15, 2019 for 2020 Poets Studio. APPLY NOW
Weekly Studio: A core group of poets makes up the members of the studio and meets weekly. Each assembly includes close readings of works-in-progress, discussion of poetic forms and theories in poetry, assessments of the role of poetry in culture and society, and a full engagement of the scope of contemporary and canonical poetry in English and translation. Each assembly has a special structure. The assembly begins with the recitation of a single published poem followed by discussion. Then, there is the presentation, close-reading, and critique of members' works-in-progress. Some sessions an intimately-directed experimentation and prompt writing session to generate new writing. There are periodic "book group" readings and periodic assignments, too. Finally, the assembly concludes with a recitation of a poem from the traditional canon in English and American poetry, or in translation, in order to invite the entire history of poetry into the Poets Studio.
Registration: Registration for the 2020 Poets Studio (24 weeks) is $1350 ($1416 via PayPal). Early registration and installment payment plans available: TBA.
Led by influential poet and founder of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters, David Biespiel, the Poets Studio is a special gathering focused entirely on creating, revising, and publishing new poetry.
To apply to join the next Poets Studio, please send ten (10) pages of poems and a 250 words "Statement of Goals" to the Attic Institute. Deadline to apply is December 15, 2019 (for 2020). APPLY NOW
Poets Studio's meets Mondays, 5:30-8pm.
Each year a special summer session runs in the summer.
2018-2019 Schedule of Classes
Dates subject to change: All classes are made-up on Sundays, 2-4:30pm
Sep 24
Oct 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Nov 5, 12, 26
Dec 3, 10
Jan 7, 14, 21, 28
Feb 4, 11, 18, 25
Mar 4, 11, 18
Apr 8, 15, 22, 29
May 6, 13, 20
June 3