Peter Sansom

'The classic Writing Poems…indispensable’ – Naomi Jaffa, Poetry Trust

Drawing on his extensive experience of poetry workshops and courses, Peter Sansom shows you not how to write but how to write better, how to write authentically, how to say genuinely what you genuinely mean to say. This practical guide is illustrated with many examples.

Peter Sansom covers such areas as submitting to magazines; the small presses; analysing poems; writing techniques and procedures; and drafting. He includes brief resumés and discussions of literary history and literary fashions, the spirit of the age, and the creative process itself. Above all, his book helps you learn discrimination in your reading and writing – so that you can decide for yourself how you want your work to develop, whether that magazine was right in returning it or if they simply don’t know their poetic arse from their elbow.

Writing Poems includes sections on:

• Metre, rhyme, half-rhyme and free verse.

• Fixed forms and how to use them.

• Workshops and writing groups.

• Writing games and exercises.

• A detailed, annotated reading list.

• Where to go from here.

• Glossary of technical terms.

Writing Poems has become an essential handbook for many poets and teachers: invaluable to writers just starting out, helpful to poets who need a nuts-and-bolts handbook, a godsend to anyone running poetry courses and workshops, and an inspiration to all readers and writers who want a book which re-examines the writing of poems.

‘I would recommend this book to any student… It’s funny, honest, thoughtful, realistic’ – Gillian Allnutt, Northern Echo

‘Peter Sansom’s handbook is The Haynes Manual for Poetry’ – Cliff Yates

‘Peter Sansom is the best poetry teacher in the world’ – Siân Hughes, Guardian