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 24 sessionms. 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 3 for the 2020-2021 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: Early registration for the 2020-2021 Poets Studio (24 weeks) is $1350 ($1390 via PayPal). Installment payment option available for accepted writers: Two payments of $710 each (50% of $1350 = $675 plus $35 Admin. Fee) due September 10 AND November 10. Installment payments made by credit card through PayPal will also include the PayPal fee for a total of $735 each.
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 3. APPLY NOW
Poets Studio's meets Mondays, 5:30-8pm (as well as one scheduled and perhaps other make-up sessions on Sundays, 2-4:30pm).
Each year a special summer session runs in the summer.
NOTE: To protect everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic, Poets Studio will begin the 2020-2021 session via Zoom—though with lifting of some restrictions, we may be able to meet, at least in some introductory capacity at the beginning. All students must first sign up for a free Zoom account. Setting it up is easy. And we can help you with questions, if needed. For each class, you'll receive a Zoom "invitation," from the instructor. Click the link...follow the simple directions about the settings for your microphone and in-computer video, and you're immediately in the "room" for the workshop. For critique workshops, instructors will communicate with students about the process of sharing work. For more generative workshops, students will be writing together while on Zoom.
2020-2021 Schedule of Classes
Dates subject to change.
All classes are made-up on Sundays, 2-4:30pm
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24 sessions: Sep 14, 2020 - Mar 15, 2021:
Sep 14: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Sep 21: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Sep 28: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Oct 5: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Oct 12: No Studio (DB reading)
Oct 18: (Sunday): Studio, 2-4:30pm
Oct 19: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Oct 26: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Nov 2: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Nov 9: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Nov 16: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Nov 23: Break: No Studio
Nov 30: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Dec 7: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Dec 14: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Dec 21: Break: No Studio
Dec 28: Break: No Studio
Jan 4: Break: No Studio
Jan 10: (Sunday): Studio, 2-4:30pm
Jan 11: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Jan 18: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Jan 25: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Feb 1: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Feb 8: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Feb 15: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Feb 22: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Mar 1: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Mar 8: Studio, 5:30-8pm
Mar 15: Studio, 5:30-8pm