Poets Studio

Pour the poet into the art and the art into the poet

Sep 28, 2026 - May 24, 2027 | Mondays, 5:30 - 7:30pm

Registration: $2,250

Led by: David Biespiel

Modeled after the famed Actors Studio — whose members included Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro, Sidney Poitier, Marilyn Monroe, and others — Poets Studio provides a private place for poets to work together in the development, experimentation, and completion of new poems and sequences of poems.

A poet's lifetime of experiences is the basis to develop poetic art, method, and practice— culminating in the creation, revision, and publication of new poetry. This approach to writing poems invites a wonderful sense of accountability, and it teaches you to experiment and learn more about your subjects, your style, and your capacity for growth as a poet in a highly supportive and focused atmosphere.

The Poets Studio is open to all poets. All new members receive David's private reading list, "The First One-Fifty," which is comprised of 150 poems from anonymous to Auden that all poets in the studio are asked to read, culled from the Norton Anthology of Poetry. By joining the Poets Studio, poets confirm that writing and publishing poetry is a practice that calls for extended and sustained study.

To apply to join the next Poets Studio, please send ten (10) pages of poems and a 250 words "Statement of Goals" to the Attic Institute.

A core group of poets makes up the members of the studio and meets weekly. Studio sessions include close readings of works-in-progress, discussion of poetic forms and theories in poetry, assessments of the role of poetry in culture and society, and engagement with the scope of contemporary and canonical poetry in English and translation.

Poets Studio participants meet one-on-one with David at leas twice during the year for one hour discussion of your development, goals, review of specific poems, and other subjects. Tutorials are scheduled in November, December, March, and April.

Writing Partners: Poets Studio participants are paired with fellow poets four per year to meet, develop, and participate in prompted studies outside of the weekly sessions.

Registration: $2250.

To apply to join the next Poets Studio, please send ten (10) pages of poems and a 250 words "Statement of Goals" to the Attic Institute.

Poets Studio's meets Mondays, 5:30-7:30pm (rescheduled and make-up sessions take place on Sundays, 2-4pm).

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2026-2027 Schedule of Classes

Sep 28, 2026 - May 24, 2027 | Mondays, 5:30 - 7:30pm

Sep 28, Oct 5, 12, 19, 26, Nov 2, 9, 16, 30, No class: Nov 23, Dec 7, 14, No class [Winter Break]: Dec 21 + 28, Jan 4, 11, 18, 25, Feb 1, 8, 15, 22, Mar 1, 8, 15, No class [Spring Break]: Mar 22 + 29, Apr 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24

Application deadlines are announced in the Attic’s newsletter. Click the link below to be the first to know.

Registration is due in full prior to the start of the session. Payment plans may be available.