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DATES: October 24th - 26th 2025*

LOCATION: Barley Wood House, Wrington, Bristol BS40 5SA

PRICE: £150 - £300 (includes tutoring, meals and accommodation)**

AIMED AT: Emerging+ poets

APPLICATIONS CLOSE: Sunday 20th April 2025

*Participants can arrive from 16:00 on Friday, and the retreat ends at 16:00 on Sunday.

**A small number of bursary spaces and travel bursaries are available. See Terms and Conditions & Application Form.

DESCRIPTION:

This retreat is aimed at emerging+ poets in the South West looking for a weekend to refresh, meet other creatives, create new work, enjoy world-class tutoring and continue building career skills in writing and performance. 

The lead facilitators for this course are two award-winning poets and UK favourites, Nikita Gill and Rachel Long. Participants will be supported by the friendly and experienced Raise the Bar team.

Focusing on various skills as a writer and a creative practitioner, this retreat will help you build confidence and map out career pathways, learning new writing techniques and engaging in lively activities and conversations to develop your voice and style.

Raise the Bar’s retreats offer a warm, welcoming and family atmosphere. Full vegan, sustainable catering is included for the duration of your stay. Outside of your tutored sessions, you will have plenty of time to read, write, socialise and explore the 11 acres of landscaped gardens and woods (the former home of poet Hannah More).

Aimed at poets of all kinds, including those working primarily in writing or in performance.

KEY INFORMATION:

Raise the Bar’s courses and retreats are open to anyone over the age of 18 residing in South West England, defined as consisting of the counties of Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Applicants must be resident in the South West both at the time of application and throughout the duration of the course applied for.

These courses are not designed for complete beginners and experience of writing poetry is required for all applications. There is no cast-iron definition of emerging+ and post-emerging poets, but the following lists may be useful in helping pick you the course that most accurately matches your level of experience.

An emerging+ poet:

• Will have less than 3 years experience as a writer/performer

• Will usually work mainly in the local area, and be seeking to expand their profile

• May regularly attend poetry workshops and courses, or perform unpaid at open mics or slam competitions

• May have minimal experience of being published in journals/magazines/competitions

• May have a pamphlet or debut book of poems published

• May have some experience performing paid support slots at poetry events

• Will consider poetry to be more than just a hobby. Will be actively working on their professional skills and seeking opportunities to advance to a post-emerging / mid-career level of career experience

A post-emerging / mid-career poet:

• Will have more than 3 years experience as a writer/performer, in a part-time capacity or as part of their profession

• Will usually make a significant chunk of their income from poetry-related work.

• May have significant experience of being published in journals/magazines/competitions

• May have at least one full-length poetry collection, album or body of work

• May have significant experience headlining events and being paid for their work, including outside of their town/city/region

• May have performed, or been published, internationally

• May be paid to judge competitions or sit on panels

• May be paid to edit or mentor other poets’ work

• May have work commissioned by organisations on a semi-regular basis

• Will still be seeking to further their professional skills in order to become an established poet with a full-time, or majority of their, income coming from writing/poetry-related work (including teaching, producing and facilitating).