Weekend Writing Retreat (Post-Emerging)
With facilitators Pascale Petit & Cecilia Knapp
Pascale Petit was born in Paris and lives in Cornwall. Her latest poetry collection, Beast, published by Bloodaxe Books in 2025, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her novel, My Hummingbird Father, was published by Salt in 2024. She has published nine poetry collections, four of which were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Mama Amazonica won the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the inaugural Laurel Prize for eco-poetry, and Tiger Girl was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection and for Wales Book of the Year. Pascale led popular courses at Tate Modern for nine years, and is the poetry tutor for Arvon’s 2025-27 Advanced Writing Programme.
Cecilia Knapp is a poet and novelist and the former Young People’s Laureate for London. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward prize for best single poem. She is the winner of the 2021 Ruth Rendell award and has been shortlisted for the Rebecca Swift Women’s prize. Her debut poetry collection Peach Pig was published by Corsair in October 2022. Her poems have appeared in The Financial Times, Granta and The White Review. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When You Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021. Her debut novel Little Boxes is published by The Borough Press. Little Boxes was longlisted for The Authors Club Best First Novel Award. Her second novel Lack is forthcoming from The Borough Press in 2026. She teaches creative writing in a number of settings.
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DATE: Friday 13th - Sunday 15th November 2026*
LOCATION: Barley Wood House, Wrington, Bristol BS40 5SA
PRICE: £250-£300 (includes tutoring, meals and accommodation)**
AIMED AT: Post-emerging poets (see description below)
APPLICATIONS CLOSE: Sunday 31st May 2026 (9pm)
*Participants can arrive from 16:00 on Friday, and the retreat ends at 16:00 on Sunday.
**Price depends on the room you select (large room w/desk / ensuite charged at £300, smaller rooms at £250). A small number of bursary spaces and travel bursaries are also available. See Terms and Conditions & Application Form.
DESCRIPTION:
This retreat is aimed at post-emerging poets looking for a weekend to refresh, meet other creatives, create new work, enjoy world-class tutoring and continue building career skills in writing and performance.
The lead tutors for this course are two widely-published poets and esteemed facilitators, Pascale Petit and Cecilia Knapp. Participants will be supported by the friendly and experienced Raise the Bar team.
Focusing on both writing and career skills as a creative practitioner, you will deep dive into advanced technical skills to generate new work or start building a body of work, while engaging in lively activities and conversations to advance your professional practice / career pathways. The retreat includes a 1-1 tutoring session with one of the facilitators, and a fireside open mic where all attendees can share their work.
Raise the Bar’s retreats offer a warm, welcoming and family atmosphere. Full vegan, sustainable catering is included for the duration of your stay. Outside of your tutored sessions, you will have plenty of time to read, write, socialise and explore the 11 acres of landscaped gardens and woods in the former home of poet Hannah More.
Aimed at poets of all kinds, including those working primarily in writing or in performance.
KEY INFORMATION:
These retreats are open to anyone over the age of 18, with priority given to applicants living in South West England, both at the time of application and throughout the duration of the course/retreat applied for. This area is defined as consisting of the counties of Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Candidates living outside this area are very welcome to apply but will initially be added to a reserve list. If we can't fill spaces from eligible candidates in the South West, we will offer spaces to suitable applicants on the reserve list.
These courses are not designed for complete beginners and experience of writing poetry is required for all applications. There is no cast-iron definition of emerging and post-emerging poets, but the following lists may be useful in helping you pick course that most accurately matches your level of experience.
An all levels / emerging poet:
Will have less than 3 years experience as a writer/performer
Will usually be active mainly in their local area, and be seeking to expand their profile
May regularly attend poetry workshops and courses, or perform unpaid at open mics or slam competitions
May have minimal experience of being published in journals/magazines/competition.
May have a pamphlet or debut book of poems published
May have some experience performing paid support slots at poetry events
Will consider poetry to be more than just a hobby, seeking opportunities to develop their creative practice or professional skills
A post-emerging / mid-career poet:
Will have more than 3 years experience as a writer/performer, in a part-time capacity or as part of their profession
Will usually make regular income from poetry-related work
May have significant experience of being published in journals/magazines/competitions
May have at least one full-length poetry collection, album or body of work
May have significant experience headlining events and being paid for their work, including outside of their town/city/region
May have performed, or been published, internationally
May be paid to judge competitions or sit on panels
May be paid to edit or mentor other poets’ work
May have work commissioned by organisations on a semi-regular basis
Will still be seeking to further their professional skills in order to become a more established poet with a full-time, or majority of their, income coming from writing/poetry-related work (including teaching, producing and facilitating)