The Poetry Lab is a community learning space for creative writers. We are dedicated to mentoring and encouraging poets and writers to craft their learning journeys through non-traditional means. We are based in the Greater Los Angeles area, but most of our workshops and classes are now held online via Zoom. A creative journey itself, The Poetry Lab was co-founded by friends Markus D. Manley and Danielle Mitchell.
Originally housed inside Markus’ co-work space, Work Evolution Laboratories, in Downtown Long Beach, California, The Poetry Lab started as a bi-monthly generative workshop. We offered folx a chance to learn new skills, elements of craft, and techniques for submitting their work for publication. This collaborative community space offered writers something rare: a chance to learn in a relaxed setting, away from the stern trappings of Academia, and a space to gather in community outside of the open mic limelight. As our classes grew, we began inviting visiting teaching artists to lead workshops on topics like ekphrasis, image and metaphor, silence, new and invented forms. Eventually, our members also became Poetry Lab instructors. From the beginning, we have followed a collaborative model, celebrating diversity and the unique gifts that every writer brings to the table.
For Markus, it was always about nurturing the creative spirit. He dedicated his life’s work to arts and tech collaborations all over Long Beach. He was known in the community as the guy who would do whatever he could to help others thrive. It was this spirit that drove Danielle, a budding community organizer herself, to take the leap to bring this vision of The Poetry Lab to life.
Converting to the virtual landscape of 2020, The Poetry Lab now runs several online poetry classes per month.
Join us for a Braintrust led by one of our leadership team, or a workshop led by a visiting teaching artist such as Sara Borjas or Shira Erlichman. New classes and opportunities are popping up all the time, so please check in regularly, or subscribe to our newsletter for updates.
We are thankful to have received support from The Poetry Foundation, Poets & Writers, the Long Beach Arts Council, and The Arts Area. We are particularly proud that, inspired by our sessions, Lab members have gone on to form publishing companies, open mics, critique groups, and literary magazines. Our goal, now more than ever, is to hold space for writers so that they can read, write, and collaborate within this community.
Some of our past collaborators include torrin a. greathouse, Erin Elizabeth Smith, Mike Sonksen, F. Douglas Brown, Cathy Linh Che, Geffrey Davis, Natalie J. Graham, Nate Pritts, Chad Sweeney, Stephen S. Mills, Mahogany L. Browne, Chiwan Choi, James Meetze, Ashaki M. Jackson, Lynne Thompson, Brendan Constantine, Lauren Eggert Crowe, Matthew Hittinger, Nicelle Davis, Alyesha Wise, Jubi Arriola-Headley, and many others.
OUR COMMUNITY IS 100% VIRTUAL
See you on Zoom!
We know that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many great workshop organizations switched to online classes over Zoom. While we also made this switch for safety reasons, what we found by connecting over the Zoom Astral Plane is a thriving worldwide network of poets and writers and we just don’t want to go back.
Our goals are to optimize and energize the virtual learning experience. Creating ways to interact and connect that feel organic and exciting for all of the writers in our community.
Our classes are fun, interactive, and educational. At the core of it all, we are proud poetry geeks! 🤓
We got the grant! We are honored to have been awarded a 2023 Poetry Programs, Partnerships, and Innovation grant from the Poetry Foundation. The award helps us rally in support of working-class writers around the world! We love our community of self-guided learners and can’t wait to keep writing with you all.
We are fiscally sponsored by The Arts Area. As of August 2022, The Poetry Lab is a member of The Arts Area. We are excited to receive a Model C Fiscal Sponsorship.
