Poetry Crafting Workshop

Poetry Crafting WorkshopDates:

• May 05 - Finding Your Own Voice
• May 12 - About Poetic Forms
• May 19 - Editing and Revision
• May 26 - Submitting to Publishers
• Jun 02 - At the Mic

*Please see below for a detailed course outline*Time: 6.30pm-8.30pm (with one 10-minute interval) Venue: 852 Hong Kong Restaurant (Restaurant will be closed to other customers during these workshops) Address: Shop 6a/503 King Street, Newtown 2042 Ages: 16 years and over *Concession ticket-holders, please present a valid physical concession ID on arrival. *Disabled access to restaurant main entry and bathroom. *Microphone, stand, and amplifier available on-site. *Free Wi-Fi available *Support dogs allowed What to bring: Please bring a pen, paper (or your journal!), or a fully charged device if you wish to read the course material digitally (We will email you a copy).House Rules:

• No photos, video filming, or audio recording during class.
• Please do not eat during class.
• Available to purchase at the restaurant before and after class, and in intervals: juice, tea, soft drinks.
• Available to buy after class: wine, beer.
• This is a safe space: please show respect to staff and all members of the class.
• Please ensure your mobile devices are all on silent mode.

Overview: You love words. You have things to say and you know you want to say them in a poem. But capturing on the page what is in your mind – and heart – can feel overwhelming.This course, led by experienced poetry event convenor, published poet, novelist, and magazine editor ROBERTA LOWING, is designed to accelerate your poetry-writing progress by showing you how to unlock the words within.Course Outline:May 05: Creating: Finding Your Own Voice (And Listening To It).

• The importance of reading aloud (to yourself)
• Medium length forms: ghazal, villanelle, sonnet
• Prose poems, confessional poetry, the dramatic monologue

May 12: Creating: A Poetic Form For Every Mood.

• Longer forms: the pantoum, the sestina
• Lyric poetry, political poetry, poetry minefields (triggering content)

May 19: Crafting: Editing And Revision.

• Finding a regular writing routine and writing groups
• Editing tricks: layout and critiquing your work
• Finding the right title for your poem

May 26: Communication: Submitting And Promoting Your Work.

• Submitting to publishers and competitions
• Promoting yourself: pitches and poetrytok
• Tips for reading at open mic events and poetry slams

Jun 02: Communication: At The Mic And Next Steps.

• Practical session: focus on reading at the microphone
• How not to annoy event convenors or lose slam points
• Course review and details of the Advanced Poetry Course

About The Teacher:Roberta Lowing’s poems have appeared in journals such as Meanjin, Cordite, Southerly, Rabbit, Newcastle Poetry Prize Anthology, Best Australian Poems, Groundswell: The Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2007-2020 Edited by Toby Fitch, and Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Anthology (UK). Her concrete poem, ‘The Cheese Poem’, appears in the 2025 illustrated anthology, This Is Us: Essential Australian Poems For Young People.Roberta’s first collection of poetry, Ruin (a 55-poem sequence on the Iraq War), was co-winner of the 2011 Asher Literary Award. Her second full-length collection, The Searchers, was published in 2014. Her most recent collection, This Attic of Fire, references historical and looming environmental disasters.Her first novel, the romantic thriller Notorious, was shortlisted for the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the 2011 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize Best Book (South-East Asia and Pacific Region). Notorious was also published in Canada by House Of Anansi.Previously a full-time film critic for Fairfax Newspapers and Nine Media online, Roberta attended the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals for ten years, filing news reports, interviews, and features on the local and international film industries, and travel features on Europe and England. She was awarded a Doctor of Arts from the University of Sydney for her thesis on female screen representation.For the past six years, Roberta has published The Poetry News, a free weekly e-newsletter of local poetry events, with e-subscribers in Australia, England, India, and America, and the monthly printed The Poetry News Magazine, which features international poetry listings in addition to listings of Australian poetry events, journal submissions, competitions, creative writing exercises, authors' opportunities, and more. Sydney-based independent publisher Apothecary Archive Press also publishes a monthly e-version of The Poetry News Magazine.Since 2025, Roberta has hosted the weekly poetry event Open Mic Poetry Mondays – at 8:52 Restaurant, 503 King Street, Newtown, Sydney; the event currently offers 24-30 open mic reading slots every week. She is co-owner – with Mark Marusic, convenor of the monthly Poets At The Petersham Bowling Club Open Mic – of The Poets Cavern Poetry, Art And Papercraft Stall, which sells poetry books, magazines, and bookmarks at Sydney’s inner-city markets and pop-up street stalls. Roberta previously ran monthly Open Mic events at Glebe’s Harold Park Hotel and Sappho Books, Café & Bar.Roberta’s film reviews were collected in The Sunday Age and Sun-Herald Family DVD Guide (Fairfax Books, 2006). Her children’s comedy adventure novel My Pet Octopus Is A Top Darts Player was published in 2014. She co-edited an anthology of fiction and poetry written by University of Sydney Master of Arts students, and in 2007, she published Illumina, which collected poems from emerging writers as well as essays from Australia’s leading poets. Roberta also co-produced and directed a weekly environmental half-hour television show for Community Television’s Channel 31 for four years. This course, led by an experienced poetry event convenor, published poet, novelist, and magazine editor ROBERTA LOWING, is designed to accelerate your poetry-writing progress by showing you how to unlock the words within. Read more details