NO HOLDS POETICS

A School of

Disruptive Excellence

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STOP PLAYING SMALL

AND START PLAYING WITH YOUR OWN

STRANGE BRILLIANCE

Excellent & Imperfect

No Holds Poetics does not coddle. You come here to achieve mastery, not to blend in, play safe, or perfect the same old techniques. 

Risk-taking  & bombast over polished MFA veneer

Magnetic

Poetry has been locked in obscurity for decades: exclusive, uninteresting and inaccessible to the general population

Our mission is to create works that transcend academia and reach out to the broader population ~ Groundbreaking, Magnetic, and Inevitable 

Unsympathetic

Too often poets rush to flaunt, perfect, and aggrandize but great poetry works because it reveals something difficult, hidden, raw, and generally not talked about. It is the place where we can see our own ugliness revealed in another and discover that we are not alone in our darkness. 

Earn a certificate or cherry pick

Either way you’re coming out of this a better poet

Your Instructor 

Robin Richardson is an award-winning Canadian Poet and essayist. She has over 20 years of experience teaching and editing students who go on to claim their own place in the literary landscape.  

She was the founder of Minola Review and the author of four collections of poetry, including the Trillium and ReLit Award-winning  Sit How You Want. She holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawerence College where she was the recipient of the Joan T Baldwin and John B. Santoianni Awards. She is also a MacDowell, Burton House, and Doris McCarthy Fellow

Robin is known for concise and unflinching work.

She will not hold your hand, but she will hold you to a standard that unlocks hidden genius and opens doors you never knew existed.  

Explore Robin's Published Works
  • Poetry Symposium with Robin Richardson Lee Parpart and Catherine Graham

    Poetry Symposium with Lee Parpart and Catherine Graham

  • Trillium Book Award | Ontario Creates

    Trillium Book Award | Ontario Creates

  • Robin Richardson

    Hamilton Literary Festival

  • Studio Visits at MacDowell Residecy

    Studio Visits at MacDowell Residency

  • Robin Richardson's Poetry Workshop

    Poetry Workshop

  • Toronto International Festival of Authors

  • Brooklyn stone House Earthquakes and Islands Opera. Robin Richardson

    Andrew Staniland's Production of Robin's Work for Brooklyn art Song Society

  • With Ben Ladouceur At Word on the Street

  • Gathering for Citadel Collective ) Robin's Previous Poetry School

  • Robin Richardson at

    The Brooklyn Poetry Festival

  • Robin Richardson at Hamilton Art and Letters

    Hamilton Art and Letters

  • Robin Richardson (far left), Michelle Brown (right) and Dominique Bernier-Cormier (far right) having a laugh with fellow Toronto Lit Up: Launch of Launches guests. They both launched their books, Sit How You Want and The Correspondent, through Toront

    Toronto International Festival of Authors

  • Robin Richardson

    Minola Review at Word on the Street

  • Robin Richardson Poetry Workshop

    Poetry Workshop

  • Robin Richardson Book Launch ECW Press

    Book Launch | ECW Press

  • Ontario Creates, Carmine Starnino, Robin Richardson, Sit How You Want

    Trillium Book Award

  • Trillium Book Award Robin Richardson Sit How You want

    Sit How You Want

  • Robin Richardson Andrew Staniland

    Earthquakes & Islands Opera

  • The Gang At MacDowell Residency

  • Pen America | New York

  • Minola Review at Type Books

  • Kathryn Mockler, Catherine Graham, Lauren Turner, and Robin Richardson for Minola Reiew

  • Robin Richardson

    With Painter Melanie Janisse Barlow

  • Robin Richardson Poetry School Reading

    Grit Lit Festival

  • Robin Richardson

    With Mike Brofman and Anthony Cappo | Brooklyn Art Song

  • Book Signing

  • Robin Richardson Reading Poetry

    Bar Le Sparrow Montreal

  • In-Person Poetry Workshop

T E S T I M O N I A L S

“This collection got 2 awards from the US and was nominated for the Governor General’s literary award. All thanks to the Almighty above and you. I always remember you with gratitude and love.”

Rummana Chowdhury, author of Dusk in the Frog Pond (edited by Robin Richardson)  


You're brilliant. Thank you so much for your comments. I felt really rigid about the whole thing, editing these poems felt like trying to smooth wet cement into pavement with my hands. Your notes gave me perspective -- I know that through incorporating them, on top of deepening the poems themselves, I will learn to be a better poet. I've been going through them all afternoon, thinking about different ways to apply your advice.

- Willow Loveday little

“I feel utterly emptied and rejuvenated. That was absolutely life-changing. Perfect timing, and your guidance was invaluable. I love feeling so empowered and focused on what to do next. Thank you thank you thank you”

Anne-lise Jasinski

Thank you so much for your work! I’m so grateful that the universe put you in my path.

Andy

My closest friends and family members reap the benefits of all your guidance and shared experience. It’s like a ripple in a pond and it reaches so far! -

Abigayl Medina