Starts & Beginnings: Poetry Writing Course

Ideal for those with a curiosity for poetry, for those wanting to be more intentional with their attention, this workshop will look at beginnings: How do we start writing? How do we begin a poem? How do we begin writing about something for which we have no words?Or something we have always wanted to write but do not know how?

Through a combination of in-class writing prompts and a workshop discussion which will provide constructive suggestions for your writing, this course will give you the tools to start writing poems. The course will pay attention to elements such as voice, image, the line, rhythm, metaphor, elements crucial to the poem.

About the Tutor

Stephen de Búrca is a writer and workshop facilitator from Galway. He completed a doctorate, funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council, at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast (2025) and an MFA at the University of Florida (2020). He was selected for the inaugural Poetry Ireland Gerald Dawe Poetry Bursary (2026), for Poetry Ireland Introductions (2023), and an Arts Council Agility Award (2023 and 2022).

Stephen’s work has featured in Poetry Ireland Review, PN Review, Banshee, Propel Magazine, Abridged, and elsewhere.

His debut poetry collection, Atlantic Fret (Gallery Press) was published May 2026.