About the summer schools

Young poets between 18 and 23 years old are invited to apply for the biennial residential Tower Poetry Summer School. The programme aims to develop writing and critical skills through a series of exciting and challenging workshops run by two established poets, with additional guest readings during the week. The Summer School is held at Christ Church, Oxford, and all tuition and accommodation costs are paid for by Tower Poetry. At the end of the Summer School, a selection of the participants’ poems are published as a poetry pamphlet. The top three winners of the annual Tower Poetry Competition will automatically be offered places on the Summer School following their 18th birthday.

You can listen to the Summer School tutor, Stephen Romer, giving a talk about the 2018 residential.

The next Tower Poetry Summer School will be held in August 2027.

Summer School publications

After each Summer School, Tower Poetry publishes a collection of poems written by participants and edited by the guest tutors. Previous editions include:

  • ‘A Second Sky’ (2023), ed. Helen Mort and Declan Ryan
  • ‘Constellations’ (2022), ed. Stephen Romer and Rebecca Watts
  • ‘Hatch a Blue Sky’ (2018), ed. Stephen Romer and Andrew Wynn Owen
  • ‘Flowers From the Dark’ (2016), ed. Alan Gillis and Olivia McCannon
  • ‘Something to be Said’ (2014), ed. Jane Griffiths and David Wheatley
  • ‘Earth-Quiet’ (2012), ed. Alan Gillis and Kevin Young
  • ‘The Twelve’ (2010), ed. Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott
  • ‘Panado’ (2009), ed. Jane Draycott and Frances Leviston

Full details of the Summer School anthologies can be found here.