For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.

It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.

- Audre Lorde

Join British poet Lalah-Simone Springer for a beginner-friendly poetry workshop exploring and queering the idea of a 'sonnet'. Usually, sonnets are love poems written to other people. In this class, we'll learn the rules for writing a sonnet, and then find the lesson from our own life story which we can share in our poetry.

The result is an uplifting, nourishing writing session leaving you with lots of ideas to explore in your writing practice, no matter what level you are at.

As seen at the Nike Well Festival, London

About Lalah-Simone Springer

Lalah-Simone Springer is a poet and speculative fiction writer from Essex, England. (she/they). Lalah’s debut poetry collection, An Aviary of Common Birds was published by Broken Sleep Books in August 2023. In 2023 they also released their collaborative spoken word album, Cyclical Music. Lalah was long-listed for the Merky New Writers Prize in 2021 and has been published on the ANTHEMS podcast, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Onyx Magazine and more. Previous collaborations as a performance artist have been staged at The Barbican, Whitechapel Gallery, Folkstone Fringe and Almanac Project Space.

Praise for An Aviary of Common Birds

'Moving from loss and desolation into a new-found-land of queer rapture, An Aviary of Common Bird’s voices capture the raw immediacies of desires and their fulfilments. Intoxicating and compelling, these spaces of transformation, liberation and self-claiming are urgently generous.’
alice hiller

‘An Aviary of Common Birds, is a breathtaking collection. A celebration of Black womanhood, queerness and the endz - these poems exude vulnerability, and take us on a journey through love, community, and conviction.’
Desree

‘A thought-provoking collection exploring memory, relationships, and the commonalities between people. Lalah’s care. Her love, wit and frustration permeate through these poems.’
Yomi Ṣode

‘This collection is connected to worlds beyond this time. Trust the invisible currents.’
Deanna Rodger