The Writers' Room for Poets: One Month of Poetry and Community (October, 2026)

The Writers' Room for Poets
A Month of Poetry and Community So You Can Build a Writing Habit that Lasts

Get a Full Month of Motivation and Inspiration So You Can Make Real Progress On Your Poetry– With Support From Experts and a Vibrant Community of Writers

The Writer’s Room for Poets is a month-long celebration of poetry and community, with a single focus: inspiring you to write a poem every day in October.

The course includes a full month of community writing events, guest lectures, writing prompts, craft tips, and so much more.

Every aspect of the course has been carefully designed to motivate and inspire you to write poetry.

This course gives you four key pillars for inspiring and support your writing:

Daily poetry prompts, craft tips, and inspiration – so you can build a daily writing practice with support from instructors and peers.
A multitude of generative poetry workshops, so you can write and share your poetry in a live group setting. (All hosted online via Zoom.)
Inspiring conversations with award winning poets and editors, including Rick Barot, Lanie O’Hanlon, and Sass Denny.
A thriving community of writers, including many chances to share your work, build lasting connections, find critique partners, and form writing groups.

This course is for writers who want to spend a month writing poetry surrounded by the energy of a strong community, while getting many opportunities to share your work, build meaningful connections, and learn from established poets and editors.

The tuition for this workshop is just $197 with the early bird tuition, which is $350 less than most of our courses.

Please note, the early bird tuition is only available until September 13th, 2026. If you’re planning on participating, you are encouraged to sign up right away.

Enroll Now for ~~$297~~ $197 (Early Bird Tuition)

A Month of Inspiration, Motivation, and Poetry

Join us for a full month of community, expert guidance, and so much more.

Get daily writing prompts, motivation, and inspiration from a large and vibrant community of poets.
Get guidance on the publishing process of Emily Harstone, Ella Peary, and our four visiting poets and editors.
Participate in generative poetry workshops hosted by Ella Peary and Emily Harstone.
Join conversations with established poets and editors of prestigious literary journals.
Get full access to 30 live events at a wide variety of times, so you can participate in events that fit your schedule.

Live Generative Workshops to Inspire and Motivate

Emily and Ella lead four generative poetry workshops every week of the course, with a focus on giving you the inspiration, time, and motivation to produce new work.

There’s something magical about a room full of writers quietly producing new work. Even in an online meeting, participating in a community is a powerful tool in its ability to focus the mind.

Many writers are surprised by the simple and effective format of these workshops – consistently coming away with drafts of poems they are excited by.

Each workshop starts with a prompt, then leads to focused writing time, followed by optional discussion in small groups, where you can share your work, and make connections, and form friendships with other writers.

There are four generative workshops scheduled each week in October with the hope that one (or more) will work for your schedule. (This is in addition to the daily writing prompts and craft tips you’ll get every day of the month.)

"It was an honour and privilege to be able to immerse myself in such a nurturing and creative environment where poets could read and give feedback on each other’s work." — Clara Lam

Daily Writing Prompts and Craft Tips

So You Can Build a Writing Habit that Leads to Publication

Every day in October, you'll get a writing prompt and a craft tip sent to your inbox, and the chance to share your draft with the community.

And while responding to the prompts is optional, you'll be welcomed to share any work you produce with the community, so you can get feedback, and forge bonds with your fellow writers.

The simple habit of writing every day is the foundation to consistently getting published. The key to consistently writing, as many poets have discovered, is to surround yourself with like-minded people working towards a similar goal. This course gives you just that.

“The prompts were fun, often challenging, and always thought-provoking. Feedback from faculty and participants was generous and helpful. And I have had four poems that I started there published in literary journals! “ – Edward Jacobs

"I absolutely loved this workshop. It really met my needs. I knew if I only had good prompts maybe I would be inspired to write again and more. The prompts offered were so imaginative and did just that! I went from writing only a few new poems a year to at least twenty poems in this one month! Ella and Emily are sensitive, kind teachers and highly competent. As a bonus the others I met in the workshop shared my love of writing and provided excellent feedback. I am only sorry the workshop has ended but can't wait for April to for the next one!" – Donna Freeman

"I was already thinking about a new chapbook and this course was the perfect vehicle for doubling down (literally--sometimes writing TWO poems a day) on the creation of new poems. Emily and Ella gave wonderful, imaginative prompts and created a safe, positive environment for both newbies and old hands." – Margaret Kagan

Featured Speakers and Guest Poets

Meet the editors of prestigious literary journals, and join conversations with established poets.

Please note: all guest visits will be recorded, with the recordings made available exclusively to course participants.

Rick Barot

Join Rick Barot for a Lively Conversation on Poetry and Publishing

Rick Barot's fourth book of poems, The Galleons, was published by Milkweed Editions and was longlisted for the National Book Award.

His earlier collections include The Darker Fall, Want, and Chord, all published by Sarabande Books. Chord received the UNT Rilke Prize, the PEN Open Book Award, and the Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award.

Rick's work has appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, The Kenyon Review, and The New Yorker.

He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Stanford University.

He lives in Tacoma, Washington and directs The Rainier Writing Workshop, the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at Pacific Lutheran University. His newest book of poems, Moving the Bones, was published by Milkweed Editions in 2024. He also recently published a chapbook, The Emperor of the Cut Sleeve, with Sixth Finch Books.

Rick will be visiting the class Tuesday, October 6th, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT . The event will be recorded for those who can't attend live. You are welcome to send your questions in ahead of time.

Katie Manning

Founding Editor of Whale Road Review

Katie Manning is the founding editor of Whale Road Review and a professor of writing at Point Loma Nazarene University. Winner of the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award for Tasty Other, she's the author of eight poetry collections, including Hereverent (Agape Editions, 2023) and How to Play (Louisiana Literature Press, 2022). Her writing has been featured with ONLY POEMS, Poetry Unbound, Tangle News, Verse Daily, and many other venues.

Katie will be visiting the class Tuesday, October 6th, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT . The event will be recorded for those who can't attend live. You are welcome to send your questions in ahead of time.

Lani O'Hanlon

Join a Lively Conversation with an Award Winning Poet, Dancer, and Creative Writing Instructor

Lani O'Hanlon is an award winning poet, dancer, and creative writing instructor. She is the author of Dancing the Rainbow, Landscape of the Body, and other books.

She has received many awards for her poetry and short stories, including the Hennessey New Irish Writing Award and the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize.

Lani’s work appears in numerous journals and anthologies, including Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry, Southword, The Irish Times, and the Poertland Review. She is a regular contributor to Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1.

A co-created poetry collection, About Grief, Songs of Love, funded by The National Arts Council of Ireland, will be launched in August.

Lani will be visiting the class Tuesday, October 6th, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT . The event will be recorded for those who can't attend live. You are welcome to send your questions in ahead of time.

Sass Denny

Editor in Chief of Cream City Review

Sass Denny is an Oneida/Ojibwe writer, editor, and educator based in Milwaukee. She teaches writing at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she is also a PhD candidate in English and Creative Writing.

She currently serves as Editor in Chief of Cream City Review, where she regularly publishes emerging and established authors.

Sass will be visiting the class Tuesday, October 6th, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT . The event will be recorded for those who can't attend live. You are welcome to send your questions in ahead of time.

Meet Your Instructors

This course is co-taught by a wonderful duo: Emily Harstone and Ella Peary.

Emily and Ella will be there every day to answer your questions. They'll also be sharing daily writing prompts, craft tips, hosting generative writing workshops, and more.

Emily Harstone is the pen-name of the author of many popular books for writers, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers, The Authors Publish Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Publishing, and Submit, Publish, Repeat: How to Publish Your Creative Writing in Literary Journals.

Through these books, she has helped many writers connect with quality publishers for their books.

As a professional submissions adviser, she has helped many writers successfully place their work in literary journals.

Emily graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, then worked as a creative writing professor at Berkeley College in New York, as well as Seattle Pacific University.

She went on to become a co-founder of Authors Publish Magazine, where she regularly engages with the editors of literary journals.

Ella Peary is the pen name of an internationally published author and editor. After earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, she lived abroad in a monastery for five years where she served as an editor for Darshan Press and Inword Publishers.

She's edited writing published in The Huffington Post, and a number of full-length manuscripts she's edited have received major international awards, including The Best Graphic Novel of the Year (Comics Finlandia), The Montaigne Medal, and The National India Excellence Awards.

She's a columnist at Ruminate, and her writing is frequently translated for publication in Ananda, one of Europe's best-selling yoga magazines.

She is the long-time literary journal reviewer and editor at Authors Publish Magazine.

Review of This Workshop

Please take this course!

Justine Dela Cruz

This was a wonderful course. I’d been struggling with writer’s block for 5 years and decided to sign up as a way to push myself. The daily prompts were always engaging and the guest speakers were so interesting to hear from too. I was able to successfully write a poem for each day, and now have a portfolio of 31 poems. It was an honour and privilege to be able to immerse myself in such a nurturing and creative environment where poets could read and give feedback on each other’s work every day. Everyone’s work was inspiring. It motivated me to try harder and be more creative. I definitely think I improved and got out of my comfort zone with many of these prompts. It was so worth it! I would 100% take this course again.

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Extraordinary course

Edward Jacobs

I have rarely been in a class where everyone I met was so happy to be there! Many were repeat attendees. The prompts were fun, often challenging, and always thought-provoking. Feedback from faculty and participants was generous and helpful. And I ...

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A Month of Joy and Connection - Highly Recommend!

Lauren Oertel

I was unsure about committing to the Writers' Room for Poets, as I'm on a very tight budget these days. But the early bird (and payment plan) pricing was fair, and I'm glad I made it work. Ella and Emily were fantastic leaders, and they provided a month full of learning, joyful poetry writing/sharing, and connecting with other poets around the world. I loved the prompts, feedback, social gatherings, speakers, etc. There was so much valuable content provided! The schedule options were also excellent (great variety for different time zones). As a bonus, I wrote a Halloween-themed poem in response to the prompt on 10/21, and it was published on 10/31. :) I highly recommend spending a month with these lovely people - I plan to join again in the future!

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Poetry Workshop 10/25

Donna Freeman

I absolutely loved this workshop. It really met my needs. I knew if I only had good prompts maybe I would be inspired to write again and more. The prompts offered were so imaginative and did just that! I went from writing only a few new poems a year to at least twenty poems in this one month! Ella and Emily are sensitive, kind teachers and highly competent. As a bonus the others I met in the workshop shared my love of writing and provided excellent feedback. I am only sorry the workshop has ended but can't wait for April to for the next one!

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Generative Poetry Workshop with Emily Harstone & Ella Peary

Stephanie Jones

Since participating in the generative workshop, I have had 32 poems published across 22 respected journals, both in print and online. One poem I wrote in response to a prompt from Ella has received a 2026 Rhysling Award nomination. And I am a late bloomer poet for sure. What I love about this workshop is the self-pacing. You can dig in as much or as little as your schedule permits, and you'll always be able to connect with other poets who share your goals because so many participate. Several poets & I started our own biweekly workshop after the month ended, which has become a very meaningful & helpful space. We definitely look out for each other and support each other's writing goals & careers. I can't recommend this course enough.

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Support and Encouragement to Write

Colleen Alderman

I can't recommend this workshop strongly enough! No matter what your skill level is as a poet, this workshop will help you on your journey, challenge your imagination, strengthen your writing skills, and provide support and encouragement from the workshop leaders and other poets in the workshop. There are prompts and focused writing time, but no pressure to produce polished, finished work. The goal just seems to be to write, and to give and receive positive, encouraging feedback. I've participated in this workshop several times. The process is the same, but the dynamic and outcome shift based on the people involved and their contributions to the experience. Most importantly, and especially for isolated poets, this workshop offers companionship and understanding from others like yourself. I can't recommend this workshop strongly enough!

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Got me back into my writing practice!

Ambrose Blue

There were so many prompts and opportunities to learn from published poets as well as publishers. I had a great time and was able to get back into my writing practice. I love this course and hope to do it again next year!

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Workshop Schedule

Five Weeks of Community, Literary Events, and Focused Writing

The course is designed to be flexible. We've included a wide variety of meeting times, so you can attend at least one live meeting per week. (In addition to the text-based discussions, daily writing prompts, and craft tips delivered via the course platform.)

To give you more flexibility, the lectures, guest speakers, Q&A sessions and editor discussions will be recorded and archived. This means you will be able to watch them on your own time, as well as ask follow-up questions via the discussion platform.

This is in addition to the daily writing prompts posted on the website.

Participants will be able to seek support from the community at any point — via text-based discussion, optional live Zoom meetings, or via direct messages to the instructors on our course platform.

Timezone:

Enroll Now

Enrollment closes on Monday, September 28th, 2026.
Early Bird Tuition Is Available Until September 13th.

$297.00

Full Tuition

Enroll Now
2 x $98.50

Early Bird Payment Plan

Enroll Now
$197.00

Early Bird Tuition

Enroll Now

$297.00

2 x $98.50

$197.00