A sneak peek at the debuts/writers we’ll be looking at in my April Short Course that begins TOMORROW! 10 generative workshops (plus craft notes), with recordings to work in your own time, all for £25! Bursary places, too - just DM me if you need one. Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

Starting Monday, join me for ten short midweek workshops from 7:30-8am, or work to the recordings in your own time, all for £25. Each workshop will look a debut collection, with craft notes and 3 prompts. Plus 50% off bursary places - DM for the code. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

Now, I'm not a novice when it comes to editing poetry, but doing it for someone else is always different to working on one's own texts. What definitely injected new lifeblood into my own practice recently was an online session on editing poetry run by @marjorielotfi.bsky.social. Very helpful. 2/2

Another extraordinary week of writing, exquisite food & laughter courtesy of @marjorielotfi.bsky.social with guest tutor Jen Hadfield. Rigg Bay makes a fine back garden.

Honoured to be judging this prize this year! Dust off your best poems and shuffle them together!

Writers, I have a couple of places open for one-to-one mentoring due to illness in my current cohort. (How it works: you send 6 poems each month, I send back notes ahead of a meeting to discuss the work in detail. I ask for a 6 month commitment of working with me.) Get in touch if you’re interested!

Join me between 5-16 January for ten 30 min/mid-week workshops from 7:30-8am (with recordings available each day a for those in another time zone/who wish to write later in the day) all for £25. Cameras off, coffee and pen in hand - I hope you’ll join us! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

Calling writers - my January short course is running from 5-16th Jan (£25). We’ll pack a lot into these sessions - a warm up, craft discussion (for editing practice), and three poems and prompts in 30 minutes. Join us to kick-start your writing in 2026! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

Calling writers - my January short course is running from 5-16th Jan (£25). We’ll pack a lot into these sessions - a warm up, craft discussion (for editing practice), and three poems and prompts in 30 minutes. Join us to kick-start your writing in 2026! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

Writer friends, I’m reading a new crown of sonnets (about watching war in your homeland from afar) at Push the Boat out on Sunday at 11am - this work was HARD to write in a time when it’s HARD to be an immigrant. Please help spread the word and do come along! www.citizenticket.com/events/push-...

Last 4 places! As the cottages are full, we’ve added 2 places in Stables House for the John Glenday and Naomi Shihab-Nye retreats at Galloway House Estate (Scotland) in 2026. Dating from 1740, GHE encompasses 600 acres of fields, seashore and woodlands. DM for more info! www.gallowayhouseestate.org

“And what is home if not the choice – over and over again – to stay?” Marjorie Lotfi – winner of the 2024 Forward Prize for Best First Collection for THE WRONG PERSON TO ASK – on becoming a writer, from fleeing Iran as a child in 1978 to arriving in Scotland writersmosaic.org.uk/people/marjo...

Join Marjorie’s Table for ten mornings in early January to get your writing practice off to the right start in 2026. Sessions will take place 7:30-8am weekdays from 5-16th January, with recordings available most mornings by 9am. £25 for all ten workshops! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

I’ve opened my books for a few more mentoring places. How it works: send me up to six poems in a word document, and I’ll then send you notes on those poems before we meet on Zoom to discuss. (Cost is £175 per month, ideally for 6 months.) DM or email via marjorielotfi.com for more information!

Join Marjorie’s Table for ten mornings in early January to get your writing practice off to the right start in 2026. Sessions will take place 7:30-8am weekdays from 5-16th January, with recordings available most mornings by 9am. £25 for all ten workshops! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marjories-...

Wednesday mornings, 30-40 writers gather online (cameras off, cameras on, always with coffee) for Marjorie’s Table. We look briefly at craft then write - poetry or prose or essay or memoir - to 3 prompts. Join us for £8 per month via Marjorie’s Table on Substack: substack.com/@marjorielot...

Today! tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/events...

The image doesn’t match the content @thetimes.com

❤️❤️❤️

Only a handful of places left on our 2026 retreats at Galloway House Estate - if you’re tempted, now’s the time to snap one up! More information here: www.gallowayhouseestate.org/copy-of-retr...

In this complicated time for immigrants, I’m reading poems about Iran at the Wigtown Bool Festival on Wednesday 1 October at 4:30pm. I’d LOVE to see you there! tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/events...

Beautiful.

Looked at this cracker by @niallpoetry.bsky.social at Marjorie’s Table today - stunning. It’s here, with a couple of others: www.badlilies.uk/niall-campbell

The week after the Brexit vote, a patient said goodbye to a local doctor (born in UK to immigrant parents 50 years before) as they told him he'd have to 'go back home' now.

My short course of 10 midweek September workshops starts on Monday, now with a Forward Prize Shortlist Focus. £20. I hope you’ll join us! ⬇️

My short course of 10 midweek September workshops starts on Monday, now with a Forward Prize Shortlist Focus. £20. I hope you’ll join us! ⬇️

This is your chance to try writing along with a recording of Marjorie’s Table - the link for today’s workshop on Zaffar Kunial’s poetry is OPEN TO EVERYONE here: substack.com/@marjorielot...

Today! ⬇️ www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

Today’s Marjorie’s Table session looked at the work of Leo Boix. The recording of the workshop is open to all here: open.substack.com/pub/marjorie... - enjoy!

Help me spread the word about these Marjorie's Table writing workshops - ten midweek workshops 1-12th September for £20. And as usual, there's a free bursary place for anyone who needs one, no questions asked, no explanation needed. DM me for the code to use at checkout. shorturl.at/AxqWc

I’ll be talking about my film poem and the idea of film poems with Anthony and Jo (and Colin Grant) today at the Edinburgh Internatioal Book Festival - see you there? www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

What a fabulous list. Congratulations to @marjorielotfi.bsky.social and all the other longlisted poets!

August news: shorturl.at/8SafG #MattHoward wins @asleuki.bsky.social Prize; #KatrinaPorteous is #LaurelPrize Finalist; #KrisJohnson & @marjorielotfi.bsky.social on #MichaelMurphyPrize Longlist; @theguardian.com review for #VersusVersus; #GillianAllnutt made @rsliterature.bsky.social Fellow; & more!

Congratulations to #KrisJohnson and @marjorielotfi.bsky.social, whose debut collections are both longlisted for the 2025 #MichaelMurphyMemorialPoetryPrize! The Prize is awarded biennially for a distinctive first volume of poetry in English. www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...

Thrilled to be longlisted alongside so many poets I admire! 💙

PS: This was the first time I took part in a writing session run by @marjorielotfi.bsky.social, and I'm very grateful she's made these workshops availble to all subscribers to her Substack during the month of August. Also: they are early morning sessions! A godsend for poets with small children.

I just watched a recording of yesterday's 'Marjorie's Table', featuring the work of the poet Joy Harjo (whom I hadn't come across before), and the prompts participants were given in this half-hour session were so good, I've filled several pages of my notebook and haven't even done the last one, yet.

Who else hasn't been writing this summer? I'm hosting 10 Marjorie's Table writing workshops for the first two weeks of September for £20. There’s a free bursary place for anyone who needs one, and discounts for MT Substack subscribers - DM me for the code. shorturl.at/BmLn8

On 8/18, join us at the Edinburgh Book Festival for Poets on Film! Featuring readings by @aanaxagorou.bsky.social, @joclement.co.uk & @marjorielotfi.bsky.social and screenings of poem films by Rob Akin and Savannah Acquah created with @writersmosaic.bsky.social. www.edbookfest.co.uk...

##SealeyChallenge Day 2 A fascinating collection 'The Wrong Person to Ask' by @marjorielotfi.bsky.social

Fancy trying Marjorie’s Table workshops? Become a free Substack subscriber, then drop me a DM to join us (for early morning workshops and/or the recordings) for FREE for the whole month of August. Further details here: shorturl.at/xZ9uS And if you’re a MT regular, please help me spread the word!

Every Wednesday morning from 7:30-8am, a group of writers gather round my virtual table to explore the work of one poet, noting craft, and then write to 3 prompts (w/ recording available for those who prefer to write at another time). Join us via my Substack - shorturl.at/Ox9P4

We looked at two poems from this remarkable book today at Marjorie’s Table. The workshop and now the recording are open to all - find the link in this post on Substack: open.substack.com/pub/marjorie...

Tomorrow’s early morning workshop is OPEN TO EVERYONE - if you’ve been wanting to try an early (7:30am) half an hour of writing (or try writing to the recording), this is your chance! Login link is on Substack here: open.substack.com/pub/marjorie...

Question for writer friends: I am wondering about offering a “how to run a workshop” session (something I’ve done for the Society of Authors in the past) - any interest out there?

An old poem, perfectly relevant today. 🇮🇷 💔

We loved having you! ❤️

What an honour to recite a poem of John’s - my fav lines, too.

Those concerned about violence might want to start with violence against immigrants, by ICE here, by illegal deportations to gulags and third countries, the violence against so many federal departments, against the law, the climate, the public lands, waters, civil rights, reproductive rights...

Might as well throw this in too, from a decade ago, because we've been around and around on this: