Poets Studio at the Attic Institute

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 for seven months. 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. 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, culled from the Norton Anthology of Poetry. 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 September 18 for the 2022-2023 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 2022-2023 Poets Studio is $1860 ($1930 via PayPal). Installment plans available upon request.

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. The next deadline to apply is September 18. APPLY NOW

Poets Studio's meets Mondays, 5:30-8pm (rescheduled and make-up sessions take place on Sundays, 2-4:30pm).

Each year there are spring sessions and summer sessions of Poets Studio.

 

2022-2023 Schedule of Classes

Mondays, Oct 3, 2022 - May 29, 2023, 5:30-8pm, 30 weeks

All classes are made-up on Sundays, 2-4:30pm

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30 sessions: Mondays, Oct 3, 2022 - May 29, 2023

Oct 3: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Oct 10: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Oct 17: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Oct 24: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Oct 31: Studio: 5:30-8pm

Nov 7: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Nov 14: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Nov 21: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Nov 28: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Dec 5: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Dec 12: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Dec 19: Break: No Studio

Dec 26: Break: No Studio

Jan 2: Break: No Studio

Jan 9: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Jan 16: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Jan 23: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Jan 30: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Feb 6: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Feb 13: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Feb 20: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Feb 27: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Mar 6: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Mar 13: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Mar 20: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Mar 27: Break: No Studio

Apr 3: Break: No Studio

Apr 10: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Apr 17: Studio, 5:30-8pm

Apr 24: Studio, 5:30-8pm

May 1: Studio, 5:30-8pm

May 8: Studio, 5:30-8pm

May 15: Studio, 5:30-8pm

May 22: Studio, 5:30-8pm

May 29: Studio, 5:30-8pm