Barbara Helfgott Hyett has conducted the Workshop for Publishing Poets at her home in Brookline, MA since 1984. The workshop is a gathering of poets who each bring work to the table for reading and critique. The workshop operates currently in 4 sections, meeting on Tuesday morning, Wednesday evening and Thursday morning and evening in 3, twelve week sessions throughout the year (eight weeks in summer). Each weekly session provides intensive critical analysis in a supportive atmosphere as poets work towards finely-honed, completed poems. The workshops also function as a publishing network for its members who have published hundreds of poems, produced and published more than eighty-five (85+) books, and won numerous awards and fellowships. The workshop also conducts regular public readings which showcase its members.

Bright, mature, inspired and inspiring, devoted to her writing and her students ... I have been impressed by her energy and determination. I have been moved by her poetry.

I have never seen anyone conduct a class by the workshop method better than Barbara does.

I am deeply indebted to Barbara for showing me a way to express my life. Over the years in her workshop I learned more than anything how to get out of my own way, to let the poem say what it must. Each evening's critique offers a useful strategy for rewrite within a supportive and nurturing environment. Magic happens on a regular basis around her table.

Barbara's passion for ideas, her delight in communicating them, and the respect that she has for people, these are just a few of the qualities that make her such a formidable teacher. It's rare to find a poet of such gifts who also cares about teaching as much as Barbara does.

Some Comments by Workshop Students

Barbara Helfgott Hyett
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