Writing Poetry and Verse for Young Readers with Ruth Ennis

Course Summary

Are you someone who loves making up rhymes for the kids in your life? Or maybe you’re a poet who wants to explore writing for younger audiences? Or maybe you’re a verse novel enthusiast who wants writing tips in this increasingly popular form? Then this course is made for you. Learn key information and techniques for writing poetry and verse for readers aged 0-18 years.

Course Outline

Each week will involve at least two in-workshop writing activities, with opportunity for feedback on your work. Each session is two hours long.

Week One: we will take a look at a short history of children’s poetry, and at the contemporary landscape of verse for young readers. We will explore fundamental information regarding age groups, word counts, and more.

Week Two: this writing-focused workshop will be filled with prompts inspired by learning objectives in the session; what makes a good poem, shaped poetry, and rhyming poetry.

Week Three: building on the previous two weeks, we will be focusing on the production of children’s poetry anthologies, pamphlets for teenage readers, and everything in between. We will also examine the role of illustrations within poetry productions.

Week Four: the final session will take all that you’ve learned in previous workshops and apply it to more expansive work in the form of verse novels. Here, you’ll learn how to navigate a narrative arc, connected themes, and the importance of negative space.

Course Outcomes

Participants will leave with a clearer sense of voice when writing poetry and verse for young readers. They will also produce several pieces of writing they will have the chance to receive feedback on.

Ruth Ennis (she/they) is a writer from Kildare. She has an M.Phil. in Children’s Literature from Trinity College Dublin. Her work has been published in The Irish Writer’s Handbook (Books Ireland) and I Am the Wind: Irish Poems for Children Everywhere (Little Island). Ruth’s debut novel Shorelines (Little Island) is a young adult verse novel retelling of The Little Mermaid, told through the lens of a fat protagonist. Ruth is usually working with books in some capacity.

Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email booking@irishwriterscentre.ie.