The Leman Poetry Workshop is a cross-border group of English-language poets living in Switzerland and France, centred around one of the dominant topological features in this region — Lac Léman (or Lake Geneva as it is sometimes, incorrectly, called).
The Workshop was founded in 2000 by Brian Hughes and Karen Mason, after a group of like-minded poets met at the Geneva Writers’ Conference that year.
Initially there were eight members, but the numbers have waxed and waned over the years because people have come and gone … as they tend to do in this part of the world.
These comings and goings are, in one respect, a problem as the size of the group constantly varies. But, on the other hand, this human mobility is a positive factor as new members regularly contribute an infusion of fresh ideas, techniques and creativity. At the moment the Workshop has members with origins in America, Britain, France, New Zealand, the Phillipines, Switzerland and Vietnam.
As well as writing poetry, and critiquing other members’ work at our meetings, the Leman Poetry Workshop also publishes anthologies, hosts open-mic readings and produces evenings of poetry and music. We try to bring poetry alive, and we believe this website is another way of doing that. Soon we will be posting audio and video files of poetry readings … both ours and those of other poets.
Please note that it is still new and some pages are under construction.
Come back soon!