Welcome to Poet Camp!
Why “Camp?” I grew up going to summer camps, and I’ve never forgotten the sense of possibility and delight that I found when taken outside of my comfort zone.
Grownups need play, too! Play allows out muse to speak more clearly, and helps us take risks on the page. The idea of camp also embraces community. Even virtually, I want our camp to be a welcoming place, where we all come together to invite surprise and delight.
I hope to meet you at camp soon!
Book Club
A progressive and generative book club! Each quarter we’ll read a different book together.
Classes
Poet Camp has weekly and monthly offerings, plus live a.m. jumpstarts and online workshops!
Retreats
Poet Camp Retreats welcome all writers, from beginners to seasoned published authors.
Coaching
Let’s work together! Coaching, critiques, and prompts to help you reach your full potential.
Upcoming CLASSES & EVENTS
NOVEMBER 2024
1
FALL BOOK CLUB: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
21
CRAFT CAFETERIA: ESSENTIALS – Musicality, Rhythm & Repetition
7:30 – 9:00 pm Eastern, Google Meet
DECEMBER 2024
2
DECEMBER JUMPSTARTS BEGIN
December 2-6 & December 9-13, 9-9:15 a.m. Eastern, Google Meet
3
CLIMATE CATASTROPHE & THE WRITER’S TASK with Nickole Brown
7 p.m. – 9p.m. Eastern, Google Meet
8
CRAFT CAFETERIA: Essentials – Readaround Celebration 7:30 – 9 p.m. Eastern, Google Meet
26
BOXING DAY COZY WRITING RETREAT
10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Eastern, Google Meet
JANUARY 2025
1
WINTER BOOK CLUB: Wintering by Katherine May begins
2
JANUARY JUMPSTARTS BEGIN
January 6-10 & January 13-17, 9-9:15 a.m. Eastern, Google Meet
“Working with Sarah and becoming part of the Poet Camp community is the single best thing I have done for my writing life. I have now participated in dozens of classes, jumpstarts, and retreats, and have worked with Sarah on a manuscript. Before coming to Poet Camp, I wondered if my writing life was over. Now, writing is a vital part of my life and I have had more than 50 journal publications and a chapbook and I’m out in the world reading and engaging as a literary citizen. I am so grateful to Sarah and Poet Camp for returning this part of my life to me.”
– PATRICIA DAVIS-MUFFETT
Sarah’s classes are different from any instructor I’ve ever encountered, packed full of knowledge, insight, and many poets to set the creative mind in motion. She has inspired me to dig deeper into my own writing, embrace and nurture the world we live in. Well-organized, she fosters a positive atmosphere, allowing for the growth of students at different skill levels. I always look forward to classes she may be teaching.”
– ELLEN LAGER
“As a teacher of writing myself,I know how much energy and intention it takes to build community, especially online. Sarah has truly done it, offering a range of inspiring opportunities to allow writers of all genres, skill levels, and financial abilities to participate. She’s cultivated a community of creatives who come together and welcome new members as though they’ve always been there.”
– TARA CAMPBELL
“Poet Camp’s Witchy Cozy Writing Retreat was such a lifeline in the midst of a scary and dark time in the outer world. Sarah, through well-structured prompts, led us deep into ourselves to explore with words our inner lives as human beings living in the natural world. We gathered all we observed and discovered and wove that knowledge into poems of the season. And how wonderful it was to write in a strong community of fellow writers and share our poems at the end of the evening. Thank you, Sarah!”
– NANCY HUGHES
“I really enjoy Cozy Writing retreats. They are full of thought-provoking prompts that dig deep for gold, pleasant music, and people that feel like kindred spirits. Since writing is often a solitary pursuit, it is fun to compose together and share our drafts in the read-around. It is very low-pressure and high-reward!”
– ARIEL BOSWELL
“The Cozy Writing Retreat was exactly what I needed to rekindle the flame in my writing. The invitations to remember, notice, and write were the perfect fodder to get the words glowing and Sarah’s gentle, genuine tending of the group and the way she wove community throughout the evening made me feel supported during our time together. I’ve already marked my calendar for the next Cozy Writing Retreat and am counting down the days!”
– TERRY LYNN SIMPSON
“Sarah did a beautiful job creating community in this fall camp. Thank you for creating a shared and sacred place on that special evening!”
– ALLISON DEFREESE
“The Cozy Writing Retreat was an amazing way to spend a Friday night! Nothing feels better than starting off the weekend with five new drafts. Great people, great energy, great time management, fun prompts, and many visual and auditory delights (photos, videos, songs). Not to mention an abundance of breaks! It truly was cozy and I left it feeling energized.”
– ANNA KEGLER
“I always leave Poet Camp classes with six to eight new poems that I’m proud to send out in the world. The readings from classes and Cozy Writes are inspiring. I’ve discovered new poets and other artists and dived deeper into old favorites. Poet Camp has given me a community of like-minded poets. We’ve continued to share our work and news after classes end. With Poet Camp, I’ve grown as a poet and had publications and opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise experienced.”
– ELIZABETH SHACK
“Thanks for the structure, inspiration, encouragement, and welcome. Sarah is a gifted teacher. I write a fair amount about place here in the South, which is so fraught with layers of memory, pain, and (yes) tenderness. Sarah’s exercises and models were really helpful in getting me to make more of an organic weave of the strata, so to speak.”
– JENNIFER DRACOS-TICE
“I took my first workshop with Sarah during the early days of COVID, and was so impressed by how she created a sense of community, even as we were all figuring out how to use the remote access. Her workshops are more than a class; they’re an invitation to join a group of poets dedicated to improving their writing and supporting each other.”
– KATE POWELL SHINE
“Joy filled and Value Added! Poet Camp is the perfect come-away treat for any poet. Sarah Ann Winn comes prepared with a stellar presentation oriented to the season or a particular holiday, a carefully-crafted schedule, beautiful example poems and abundant prompts. She is friendly, encouraging and gets everyone conversing and sharing. It’s a whole lot of fun! A great gift to give yourself or another poet in your life.”
– KRISTEN BAUM DEBEASI
“The cozy writing retreat reset my writing this October. It was the perfect way to welcome the full moon, share in sisterhood, and be inspired by Sarah’s brilliance. Sarah thoughtfully put together a program that blew me away. I’ve been to a lot of workshops and this one definitely stretched my writing muscle. Thank you thank you thank you! I’ll be back again for another witchy poet camp next year for sure!”
– LAUREN VILLA
Hi, I’m Sarah!
I’m a free range librarian and poet, leading workshops online and in the Northern Virginia area.
I love working with poets as a sort of “master gardener,” sharing tools which will encourage their work and writing lives to grow green and lush, and full of blossoms.
My workshops are creativity labs which use readings to represent a variety of voices from our wonderfully diverse community of writers.
I also frequently provide resources from other creative fields and items not normally considered “writerly” to inspire new work and new ways of thinking about the creative process. Feedback in my workshops focuses on the positive and the particular of what’s working, especially in courses generating fresh drafts.
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