From Poem to Manuscript with Felicity Plunkett
Expand and nurture your practice as a poet in this 4-month program. We’ll create an encouraging and inspiring community, and support the development of original work, from single poems to sequences, and explore how to build a collection for publication.
Applications close 19 February 2026.
Dates: 6pm - 8pm, Thursdays 26 March* - 23 July 2026. Please look at details below for a list of all class dates.
Fees: $2450 or $2350 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Applications close: 5pm (AEDT) Tuesday 19 February 2026
Places: 8 participants will be selected
*Please note that we may be able to offer two cohorts, and if so, the second program will run on Wednesday evenings in the same weeks as the classes below. You will be asked your availability in the application form.
“Felicity Plunkett’s ‘From Poem to Manuscript’ is the perfect poetry workshop, curated with deep intelligence and compassion. Felicity facilitated deep dive discussions including from the poetic line to the room of the stanza, all the while encouraging us in our own endeavours as well as leading us on a thrilling exploration of well known and lesser known poets. I feel truly privileged to have been chosen to participate in this course, to have been mentored by Felicity and to have met the stunning poets in my group. ”
This online masterclass includes five three-week modules, each starting with a week focused on prompts, resources, poems and micro-exercises organised around themes, followed by two weeks dedicated to workshopping the poems you develop or rework in the light of these ideas.
Each module will explore a theme and aspect of poetry from a range of angles. Online materials and discussion will complement a two-hour weekly masterclass. The course is designed to introduce a unique range of materials informed by Felicity’s expertise as a writer, editor and educator, and will include sustenance for your creative practice, a vast array of forms and prompts, and spaciousness for each poet’s work to receive close and careful feedback.
The masterclass will be led by award-winning poet and critic Dr Felicity Plunkett. Felicity was awarded her PhD from the University of Sydney and, after fifteen years in academia, was Poetry Editor with University of Queensland Press for a decade. She is Poetry Editor with Australian Book Review and a widely published poet, critic and essayist. In 2026 she will be part of the jury of the Montreal International Poetry Prize. Over the last fifteen years Felicity has worked with a host of poets (and the occasional fiction or non-fiction writer) as creative editor. She is acknowledged for her expertise as a poet, interlocutor and creative editor, who loves to accompany poets as they develop their work, always exploring the creative and poetic possibilities with care, sensitivity and a focus on craft and poetics.
Felicity’s approach is informed by her years in academia, especially her supervision of postgraduate students. Her work at UQP as Poetry Editor and her continued work as a poetry editor for several presses, and her work as a mentor, has led to the development of a practice centred around responsiveness to each writer’s interests and needs. In these intimate masterclasses, she aims to develop communities of trust and generosity, where respectful engagement with each poet’s work offers inspiration and gentle and robust suggestions for further ideas, resources and creative possibilities to explore. Informed by the generous work of other poet-editors and her own practice, Felicity will share her own research alongside each poet’s drafts in communities where the confidential, tender and trusting work of careful feedback is guided by each poet’s preferences.
Each writer will be encouraged to draft new work in response to these readings and short set writing exercises or practices, and to use these ideas as a lens to explore poems already in draft. There will be prompts relating to developing and sustaining a creative practice. Workshopping weeks will allow close discussion of each poet’s work, and develop critical and editorial skills under Felicity’s guidance.
While the structure of the course, moving from the line to the book, has been retained from the 2025 program, the 2026 masterclass will include new prompts, poems and exercises in the workshops, making it suitable both for poets new to the course, and returning poets. If you are unsure about the suitability of this program for you please contact amy@varuna.com.au.
PROGRAM OUTLINE
SEMESTER 1
26 March
Module 1: First, the line
2 April
Module 1 workshop and discussion
9 April
Module 1 workshop and discussion
16 April
Module 2: The poem’s room
23 April
Module 2 workshop
30 April
Module 2 workshop
7 May
Module 3: Breaks
14 May
Module 3 workshop
21 May
Module 3 workshop
COURSE BREAK
SEMESTER 2
11 June
Module 4: Repairs
18 June
Module 4 workshop
25 June
Module 4 workshop
2 July
Module 5: Sequencing
9 July
Module 5 workshop
16 July
Module 5 workshop
23 July
Celebration, discussion, Q&A
ABOUT FELICITY PLUNKETT
Dr Felicity Plunkett is Poetry Editor with Australian Book Review and a widely published poet, critic and essayist. She is the author of A Kinder Sea (UQP), Vanishing Point (UQP) and the chapbook Seastrands (Vagabond) and editor of Thirty Australian Poets (UQP). She has a PhD from the University of Sydney, and was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award during her years teaching full-time in universities, including the Universities of Sydney, Queensland and New England. She was Poetry Editor with University of Queensland Press and has extensive experience as a mentor and creative editor. She was Chief Examiner of NSW’s HSC English Extension course for five years and also mentors students and teachers.
HOW TO APPLY
Entry to this course is by application. Writers will be selected based on the creative potential of their work, commitment to craft, openness to collaborating with peers and the balance in the group.
Course fees are $2450 or $2350 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Feel free to call 02 4782 5674 or email amy@varuna.com.au to discuss your application.
Please refer to Varuna’s general submission guidelines for any questions on formatting your work.
TESTIMONIALS
“The masterclass was more than I expected. Modules were full of possibilities to develop my poetry practice. Felicity was awesome as a teacher. Class information was easy to follow and enjoyable. The group of poets were generous and respectful to each other. Overall, a very positive experience.”
“A wonderful and inspiring course with a great depth of materials made available, and a very sympathetic and experienced facilitator.”
“This Masterclass - its clever vessel and caliber of poets, selected and tuned expertly into a rich mix by the brilliant, Felicity Plunkett - bumped a rapid advance along my poetic path. The prompts, the exposure to “ways”, the quality of reflection and specific feedback - proved everywhere a worn in intelligence, deep with experience. This class will stand as a - where-from archway - I point back to here-on. ”
“Felicity Plunkett has an understanding of poetry that is generous, expansive, joyful and incisive, and she bases her masterclass on these qualities enriched with her wide-ranging history as poet, educator and academic. As a group, we flourished under her guidance. As individuals, we each came away from the experience decorated with reward. ”
“I loved every minute of this extraordinary masterclass with the inimitable Felicity Plunkett, alongside a cohort of generous, genuine, wildly imaginative poets. My writing practice flourished. I continue to make use of the fine resources Felicity shared. ”
“The masterclass was my weekly poetry oasis, all abundance. It was so much more than an ‘abstract-forms-and-how-to-do-them’ kind of discourse with discussions expanding into questions of how the line, the stanza, the poem, the manuscript shapes and is shaped the world around us. I also wrote some banger poems!”
“Felicity brings a unique set of gifts to facilitating this masterclass. Each module provides a rich selection of readings, writing prompts and materials for discussion. These reflect Felicity’s extensive experience as a poet and academic. As a teacher she creates an inspiring, safe forum for rigorous workshopping of poems.
The feedback I obtained during the masterclass from Felicity and the other participants was invaluable.”
“Felicity has incredible skill in understanding where a poem is trying to go and helping it get there. The feedback from other participants was incredible but I also feel much more confident I know how to work independently now.”
“A brilliant masterclass that has deepened my understanding of poetry as both a writer and reader. What a gift. Thank you Felicity and Varuna!”
UPCOMING COURSES, FELLOWSHIPS AND EVENTS
