Full-Day Writing Retreat (Post-Emerging)
With facilitators Jasmine Gardosi and Vanessa Kisuule.
Jasmine Gardosi is the former Birmingham Poet Laureate and an Honorary Doctor of Letters. They are a multiple slam champion, beatboxer, winner of the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry and winner of the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Performer 2023. Their work exploring beatbox poetry, neurodivergence, LGBTQ identity and mental health has appeared on Button Poetry, at the Tate Modern, Glastonbury Festival, Symphony Hall, BBC and Sky Arts. They have been invited to perform and run workshops around the world, and their poem about the pandemic, filmed on a rollercoaster, was broadcast across America on PBS. Their debut solo single about sexuality ‘Dancing To Music You Hate’ fuses Celtic Dubstep and spoken word.
Vanessa Kisuule is a writer, performer and facilitator based in Bristol. She has won over ten poetry slam titles and performed nationally and internationally. She has worked with and written for the BBC, the British Library, the Guardian, the Tate, Royal Academy of Arts, Bristol Old Vic, CILIP and Glastonbury Festival. She was the Bristol City Poet for 2018 - 2020 and her poem on the toppling of Edward Colston's statue ‘Hollow' garnered over 700,000 views and is frequently used as a resource in schools and universities. She writes and presents ‘The Poetry Detective’ for Radio 4 and has two collections with Burning Eye Books. Her poetry has been anthologised widely, including in the Forward Poetry Prize Anthology 2019. She is the co-tutor for the Southbank New Poets Collective alongside Will Harris, a co-editor for Bad Betty Press. She was a judge for the Forward Prizes and the Foyle Young Poets in 2024 and her debut non fiction book Neverland: The Pleasures and Perils of Fandom was published in 2024 by Canongate.
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DATE: Saturday 27th June 2026 (10:00 - 16:00)*
LOCATION: Chew Valley Community Farm, Chew Magna, Bristol BS40 8SZ
PRICE:£60**
AIMED AT: Post-emerging poets (see description below)
APPLICATIONS CLOSE: Sunday 31st May 2026 (9pm)
**Participants can arrive from 09:30 - 10:00, and the retreat runs until 16:00.
**2x bursary spaces and 1x travel bursary are available for each retreat. See Terms and Conditions & Application Form.
DESCRIPTION:
This retreat is aimed at post-emerging poets looking for a day of inspiration to create new work and take your career/practice to the next level.
You will meet plenty of other writers, build community and create new work under the tutoring of Vanessa Kisuule, former Bristol City Poet, and Jasmine Gardosi, former Birmingham Poet Laureate. 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.
Raise the Bar’s retreats offer a warm, welcoming and family atmosphere. A full vegan lunch + snacks are included as part of the day. The retreat will consist of facilitated sessions with both tutors, a Q&A, and a chance to read/write/explore in the beautiful Chew Valley Community Farm.
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)