Make contact through Poetry Society Stanzas

Here is your opportunity to meet other members through Stanzas - poetry groups run voluntarily by Poetry Society members. You could help each other with your 'poems in progress', for example, or set up a reading group. You may even just want an excuse to have a poetic chat over a pint. Stanzas allow you to do whatever you want to do.

At the time of writing (summer 2008) we have 63 Stanzas in the UK and the rest of the world. Find out if there's a Stanza near you. If not, why not set up your own Stanza by contacting membership AT poetrysociety.org.uk or 020 7420 9881 - please provide the details of the postcode/s for your area. 

Have a look to see what your local Stanza group gets up to in Stanza News.

Stanzas also have their own exlusive annual poetry competition and will play a major role in the 2009 Poetry Society Centenary celebrations, including an exciting collaboration with the National Trust.  

Stanzas came top in the 2008 Membership Awareness Survey, with 72.8% of the 459 Poetry Society members who responded saying they recognised Stanzas as a feature of their membership.

How do Stanzas work?

See Memorandum of Understanding for full details.

As a volunteer-driven initiative, it’s entirely up to you to run as many or as few meetings, readings or activities as you like. And if you feel the Stanza closest to you is too far to get to, or doesn’t run the kind of activities you’d like to see, you’re welcome to start your own.

Simply provide the postcode area/s you would like me to search and I will let you know how many Poetry Society members with email live in that area. You can expand or reduce the search until you’re happy with the number of members.

Once we’ve agreed your contact details and the wording you would like to use, I will then email all members in your area to contact you.

We dedicate a section of Poetry News to publicise all Stanza locations and contact details around the UK. We also profile a Stanza Rep in each issue. Your contact information will also go up on our website on the Contacts page. 

I will email you:

  • a welcome letter to help get you started
  • contact details of members in your area
  • a flyer to help you promote your Stanza
  • a web link to our Stanza News web page, written by Stanza reps for Stanza reps
  • and the Stanza logo that can be used on all your mailings and documents

I will also post membership, event and competition leaflets to help you promote the Poetry Society in your area.

Every month you will have the opportunity to send me your latest Stanza News which I will add to our web pages. I will also send our monthly competition listings for distribution among the members of your Stanza.

We also run the Stanza Poetry Competition annually – exclusive to Poetry Society members who are also Stanza Members – the winners are announced on National Poetry Day and published on our Stanza Competition web page (and in Poetry News where space permits).

There will be opportunities for you to meet up with other Stanza reps at least twice a year at the Stanza Link days – where you can share your issues and ideas.

Of course, you can always contact me or any of the other Stanza reps whenever you like to ask questions or pass on good tips.

What does the Poetry Society expect from a Stanza Rep?

Stanza Reps must be a member of the Poetry Society but, apart from that, we don’t tell you what you can and can’t do, what’s right and what’s wrong. As long as your Stanza gives people in your area an opportunity to get together and meet one another to talk about poetry, then that's fine. 

You decide when and where you meet and what you do at the meetings.

For some, Stanzas may be an opportunity to read and discuss your own poems to each other, or you may choose to look at the work of a particular poet at each meeting – or you could identify your local arts centre and meet in the bar/café and take part or watch an open mic or other reading. It could be all/some/none of these.

We’d be grateful if you would promote the benefits of the Poetry Society in your area e.g. by distributing Poetry Society leaflets in your local library or arts venues.

Can non-Poetry Society Members join my Stanza?

Yes. We ask you to encourage PS membership, however e.g. we run a Stanza Membership scheme whereby any member of your Stanza who subsequently becomes a Poetry Society member will receive a free recent copy of Poetry Review and Poetry News. Simply vouch for them and leave the rest up to me! If a Stanza Rep brings in 5 new Poetry Society members, the Stanza rep will also receive a year’s free membership.

Where can I find further information?  

Contact me on 020 7420 9881 or email membership AT poetrysociety.org.uk.

Paul McGrane
Membership Manager