Online Courses and Workshops
Book here for online courses and workshops. As always we aim to host the country’s best poets and workshop leaders, with a strong emphasis on good mental health and wellbeing, and hope our new online offering will be accessible to those who can’t make it to the Poetry Pharmacy itself. We are working on putting together an exciting program of innovative course leaders and content!
Subsidised places on our online courses and workshops are available –
for details please email
Monday 8th December 2025, 6-8pm
When the Night Speaks with Leah Larwood
Every night, dreams visit us—strange, mysterious, sometimes unsettling, always full of meaning. We’re delighted to partner with The Moon Lab to bring you this special workshop, where poetry becomes a bridge between the world of sleep and waking life.
Through creative prompts, simple writing exercises, and gestalt-inspired ‘poetry therapy’ techniques, you’ll discover ways to listen to, honour, and explore your dreams. No experience is needed, just bring your curiosity, a notebook or dream journal, and an open heart ready to meet the magic of your night world.
Coaching for Writers - Bespoke Coaching on Zoom with fully-qualified coach Julia Forster of Write Within
Writing a full-length work involves a long haul, and the journey to completion is rarely linear. Coaching is a powerful modality which supports and strengthens your creative practice so that you experience breakthroughs and create inner shifts in how you relate to your work-in-progress.
Book a series of five or ten online coaching sessions with our very own Poetry Pharmacy coach Julia Forster who specialises in working with poets and who has worked with hundreds writers of all genres to support and sustain their artistic practice. Explore your individual and singular gift to create.
How it works
Book an initial, free 30-minute conversation with Julia here and then decide which of the various coaching packages you’d like to book. Blocks of five sessions (£325) or ten sessions (£520) are available, with the option to add on a four-night writer retreat in the stylish Writers’ Cabin in Machynlleth, mid-Wales.
Coaching sessions are sixty minutes long, held on Zoom and at a frequency to suit you. Julia’s approach is strength-based and compassionate and is tailored individually to each client.
About Julia Forster
Julia is a fully-qualified coach, specialising in coaching authors and poets, who also hosts writers on self-lead retreats in a Writers’ Cabin near Machynlleth, mid-Wales. With a career in publishing spanning over 25 years, she works freelance in PR for independent presses and is Co-Director of Being A Writer at The Literary Consultancy where she facilitates the group coaching programme, Amplify. Poets and poetry festivals she has devised PR campaigns for include: Deborah Alma; Dean Atta; Inua Ellams; Jacqueline Saphra and BBC Contains Strong Language.
She has published a novel What a Way to Go (Atlantic Books) and a book of non- fiction Muses (Oldcastle Books), while her poetry pamphlet is currently on submission.
Poetry Surgeries - A rare opportunity to work one on one with a professional poet
Writing a poem is a personal thing, but there are skills to be learnt too, especially where editing your work is concerned, and our Poetry Surgeries aim to help you through this process. They offer a rare opportunity to work one on one with a professional poet, who will address any specific difficulties you are having as well as giving in depth feedback on each poem.
Receive detailed one to one advice on up to four of your own poems from resident Poetry Pharmacy poet Rhiannon Hooson. Poetry Surgeries are by appointment and can take place either face to face at the Poetry Pharmacy, or online. There is a £60 charge for an hour long consultation.
How it works
You will submit your work in advance by email, then visit the Poetry Pharmacy where you’ll receive private and detailed feedback on your poems over coffee. If you can’t make it to Shropshire, your surgery can take place online or via email!
Our approach is constructive, supportive and positive, and you’ll go away with concrete ideas for your work as well as plenty to think about.
About Rhiannon
Rhiannon Hooson is a Welsh poet, author and editor. She has won major awards for her work, including an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors, and her first book, The Other City, was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year award. In the last few years, she has been a Literature Wales bursary recipient, a Hay Festival Writer at Work, poetry editor of Creative Countryside magazine, and the judge of the PENfro festival poetry competition. She has a PhD in poetry from the University of Lancaster, and spent time living and working in Cumbria and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, before settling in the Welsh marches. Goliat, her second collection, is out now from Seren.
"Rhiannon was always so positive and clear in her feedback and I have come away with a host of new ideas that I would never have attempted without her support."
- Tina Cole