Singing a Little Song: Finding Your Sonnet Voice with Catherine Ann Cullen
Info
Date: November 14, 2026
Time: 10.30 am – 4.30 pm
Duration: 1 day
Level: Advanced | Intermediate | Beginner |
Cost: €120 (€108 Members)
Online/In Person: In Person
This course will take place in-person on Saturday 14 November at the Irish Writers Centre. There will be a one-hour break for lunch.
Course Summary
This one-day course is aimed at those looking to explore and hone their skills in this versatile form with a practitioner whose first collection began with a 25-sonnet sequence on taboos in myths and stories. Cullen will guide you through using the sonnet form to tell a family secret; personify a character from myth, fairytale or history; turn an idea on its head, get angry with someone; or devise and realise a short sequence.
Course Outline
Do you want to ‘breakdance in a straitjacket’ as Terrance Hayes put it, or are you drawn to Diane Seuss’s idea of ‘an expansive playground for experimentation’? We’ll take a brief look at a variety of sonnet styles. Feel free to bring a favourite sonnet to share as an opener.
Come with an idea for a new sonnet, brainstorm with the group, or let a theme emerge from a series of writing prompts. Throughout the day, participants will write in short bursts and share their work in progress. (If you’re shy, Catherine Ann is happy to read for you.) We’ll work on angles, stories, character and the volta or turn – if there is one.
Course Outcomes
Participants should take away a greater understanding of the possibilities of the sonnet form, at least one new sonnet, and some tools for finding inspiration given by a writer who does not believe in the Muse.
Catherine Ann Cullen was Poetry Ireland’s inaugural Poet in Residence and is a multi-award-winning poet, children’s writer and songwriter. She is a recipient of the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship and bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Irish Writers Centre. She won this year’s Strokestown Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the 2024 Moth International Poetry Prize. Her eighth book, Storm Damage, was published by Dedalus in October 2025. She is a serial sonneteer with sidelines in villanelles, ballads and free verse.
If this course is booked out below please contact bookings@irishwriterscentre.ie to be added to the waiting list
