‘Poems are like dreams: in them you put what you don’t know you know’ – Adrienne Rich

‘Your subconscious is the engine room of imagery’ – Caroline Bird

How can poetry help us explore queerness? How can we access our inner desires, questions, or fears? This course will offer techniques for sidling up to your subconscious and writing into unknown spaces with curiosity. We will explore moments of queer joy, moments of questioning, and moments of difference – making space to let our subconscious spill out onto the page.

Our focus will be on poets who explore queerness through images and objects. You’ll read contemporary work and ideas from exciting writers such as Mary-Jean Chan, Jaime Lock, George Parker, JP Seabright, Andrew McMillan, Nuar Alsadir, Denice Frohman, and Joy KMT.

Everyone is welcome – whether you identify as queer, love someone who is queer, or are curious about yourself. This will be an open and relaxed space to write into questions and explore. No one will be pressured to share what they write.

Kat Dixon is a queer writer based in London. Her poetry explores the intersections of modern life, social justice, and queer identity in a rapidly changing world. Kat’s work has been shortlisted for various prizes, including the Café Writers Prize, Verve Poetry Prize, and the Ver Prize. Her poetry appears in The Rialto, Butcher’s Dog, Queerlings, Mslexia, and fourteenpoems and others; and queer anthologies such as Spectrum and Re:Creation Anthology.

Dates: 2 x half-day sessions, running 6.30–9pm (BST), on 3 & 17 June 2025
Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: £95

Further info and to book here