The Poetry Trust has run an Advanced Seminar since 2007, initially with funding from the Jerwood Charitable Trust. The model has proved enormously successful with overwhelmingly positive feedback from the participants and strong industry support.

MORE ABOUT THE SEMINAR ‘EIGHT’ IN 2011

Liz Berry is 30 and lives in London
Liz works as an infant school teacher. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway and received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2009. Her first pamphlet The Patron Saint of Schoolgirls was published by tall lighthouse in 2010. She recently joined Kingston University as Emerging Poet in Residence. She has had poems published in a number of major poetry magazines and on Radio 3’s Words and Music.
Liz is beginning to develop the poems for a first collection and is looking forward to the opportunity of concentrated time away with other writers and with the guidance of experienced tutors.

Jamie Coward is 38 and lives in Sheffield
Jamie completed a degree in English at Bretton Hall College in 1997. For four years he wrote and self published comic books with Arts Council grant support and has worked as a copywriter since 1999. He is currently in the University of Sheffield’s marketing department. He has had poems published in a number of major poetry magazines.
Jamie is studying part-time for a Writing MA at Sheffield Hallam, the outcome of which is a first collection of publishable quality. He is looking forward to the opportunity to workshop with peers and gain the impetus that it is hard to achieve as a part-time student.

Ramona Herdman is 32 and lives in Norwich
Ramona completed her BA English degree at UEA and then went straight to the MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) taught by Denise Riley and Andrew Motion. She now works as a civil servant in the Cabinet Office, dividing her time between Norwich and London. She tries to do as much writing as possible in her day job, but the creative element is necessarily limited. Her first collection Come what you wished for was published by Egg Box Publishing in 2003. A number of her poems have appeared in major poetry magazines.
Ramona is really looking forward to the opportunity to discuss what is great about a poem, what needs changing and what can be done about it.

Hannah Lowe is 34 and lives in London
Hannah works as a literature teacher in a sixth form college and has been writing for about four years. She has attended a number of classes and workshops at The Poetry School and elsewhere and has participated in two Arvon courses. In 2010 she was commended in the Arvon International Poetry Competition and has won or been placed in several competitions for single poems. She has had poems published in major poetry magazines. Her first pamphlet The Hitcher is to be published by The Rialto early in 2011.
Hannah is looking forward to a week to focus on writing with the benefit of wisdom from both the tutors and other participants. She would like to work on finishing then sequencing her manuscript, which is biographical in nature.

Alex McCrae is 31 and lives in Washington DC
Alex works as a broadcast journalist for Associated Press in Washington and divides her time between London and the USA. Her poems have been published in a number of poetry magazines, both here and in the States. She was a prize-winner in the Plough Prize in 2007 and won an Eric Gregory Award in 2009.
Alex is at first collection stage and feels that she would benefit from spending time with others at a similar point and is looking forward to being in a creative and supportive environment where she can connect to other poets.

Fiona Moore is 51 and lives in London
Fiona left a job in the Foreign Office 7 years ago, to write poetry.  Since then she has read widely, and written to make up for lost time.  She has had 16 poems published in well-known magazines, and has just started a poetry blog.  She has worked part-time for a sustainable development charity. She has an MBA specialising in organisational culture and a degree in Classics, and has lived in Poland and Greece. 
Fiona expects to learn from the other participants and gain a major stimulus for her own writing. Practical advice on preparing a collection would be extremely helpful.

Jocelyn Page is 44 and lives in London
American by birth, Jocelyn began writing poetry in 2007 after a career in international education. She completed her MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmith’s College in 2009 and is now pursuing an MPhil/PhD focusing on poetry. She has attended advanced courses at both Arvon and The Poetry School. Her debut pamphlet Smithereens was published by tall lighthouse in 2010 and her poetry has appeared in a number of print and on-line poetry journals. She was highly commended by the New Writer Prose and Poetry contest in 2008.
Jocelyn is currently writing towards a first full collection. She is looking forward to bonding with a group of poets with the aim of working towards growth and learning.

Luke Yates is 27 and lives in Manchester
Luke is a former Foyle Young Poet and enjoyed much success as a teenager, with poems published in several anthologies and literary journals as well as on the London Underground. He is now writing a PhD on Catalan squatters. Luke put out a pamphlet Thinking inside the Box with the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study in 2009, “launched from a 3’ by 3’ wooden box suspended twenty feet over a microphone and a glass of water”.
Luke is looking forward to producing new raw material and polishing up pieces he hasn’t been able to develop on his own, and to making some helpful friends among participants who are at a similar stage.

THE TUTORS

Michael Laskey has published four collections, most recently The Man Alone: New & Selected Poems (Smith/Doorstop 2008). He founded and co-edits Smiths Knoll magazine and he co-founded the international Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and directed it for its first 10 years. A highly experienced workshop leader and writing tutor, he is Chair of the judges for the £3,000 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize.

Peter Sansom has published four collections, most recently The Last Place on Earth (Carcanet 2006), and the classic and recently reprinted handbook, Writing Poems (Bloodaxe). He is a director of The Poetry Business and editor of The North magazine and Smith/Doorstop Books. He has taught at Huddersfield and Leeds universities and has held several high profile residencies including Marks & Spencer and the Prudential.

THE VENUE

Bruisyard Hall dates from the 14th century and provides an atmospheric and spacious retreat in rural Suffolk, wonderfully well-suited to creative endeavour. The house has recently been totally refurbished with oil fired central heating, re-plumbing and re-wiring. With 10 bedrooms and five bathrooms, it combines grandeur and style with comfort and homeliness. For more information, visit www.bruisyardhall.co.uk