From Poems to Poetry Collection: Building Your Manuscript

An IndieMFA One-on-One Mentorship with Melanie Hyo-In Han

Acceptance decisions made on a rolling basis.

Please do not pay for the mentorship until you receive a formal acceptance notification via email.

Click HERE to Apply Now. Early applications are encouraged as space is limited.

Any questions about this mentorship? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Application Process:

Complete the Application Questionnaire and submit a writing sample of 6 to 8 poems.

Two Tracks Available:

• Chapbook Track: 4 months, for poets building a focused chapbook-length collection (20–40 pages). Ideal for emerging poets, or for writers with a smaller body of work that's ready to cohere into a first book.
• Full-Length Track: 6 months, for poets building a full-length manuscript (approximately 60–90 pages). Ideal for writers with a substantial body of work ready to be shaped into a book-length collection.

Both tracks follow the same structure, scaled to fit the project.

Instructor Bio

Instructor Melanie Hyo-In Han (she/her) is a Ph.D. candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Surrey. Born in Korea and raised in East Africa, she recently moved from the U.S. to the U.K. She is the author of four poetry collections: Passing Notes in Secret (boats against the current, 2025), Abecedarian: Banff, Canada (kith books, 2025), My Dear Yeast (Milk & Cake Press, 2023), and Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips (Finishing Line Press, 2021). She is also the translator of several collections of Spanish poetry for Hebel Ediciones.

Her work has been supported by fellowships from Gladstone's Library, The Society of Authors, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Kees Eijrond Foundation, Casa Uno, and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. An award-winning poet, Han has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and recognition from The International Human Rights Festival, "Boston in 100 Words," Valiant Scribe, The Lyric Magazine, and elsewhere.

She leads craft-focused workshops for organizations including Sundress Academy for the Arts, The Poetry Lab, Being Human Festival, and the Migrant Writing Project. At the University of Surrey, she teaches undergraduate literature and creative writing seminars, and her research focuses on multilingual poetics, hybridity, revision strategies, and the relationship between language and power. She holds an M.F.A. in Poetry and Translation from Emerson College, where she taught in the Writing Studies Program and served as an ELL Consultant, as well as an M.Ed. in Secondary English and Secondary Spanish from Gordon College.

She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Flora Fiction and the Two Languages Prize Editor at Gasher Press. Learn more at melaniehan.com.

Who is this mentorship for?

This program is designed for intermediate and advanced poets who have a working portfolio of poems ready to be shaped into a cohesive chapbook or full-length collection. The ideal applicant has poems on the page (or near it) and is ready to commit to the sustained, focused work of revising, sequencing, and developing them into a manuscript — and, ultimately, to preparing that manuscript for publication.

What to expect:

This is a personalized, one-on-one poetry mentorship. From your first biweekly Zoom session forward, you and Melanie will work together on the arc of your book: how individual poems speak to one another, how recurring images and themes develop across a collection, and how sequencing shapes the emotional movement of a manuscript. Each round of feedback builds on the last so you can watch your collection take shape over the course of the program.

What sets this mentorship apart is the depth of editorial experience Melanie brings to each manuscript. Her practice is rooted in multilingual poetics and the relationship between language and power, and she is attentive to how a manuscript's linguistic and cultural elements generate meaning across a book's narrative and thematic arc. As Co-Editor-in-Chief of Flora Fiction and Two Languages Prize Editor at Gasher Press, she selects, develops, and guides poetry manuscripts through to publication. Her four published collections (with additional work forthcoming) across presses in the U.S. and U.K. give her firsthand familiarity with a range of markets and submission contexts — which means you'll be receiving feedback on your poems and the editorial eye of someone who knows what it takes to bring a poetry collection into the world.

The mentorship combines live Zoom conversations with written feedback exchanged via Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Live sessions are used for revision strategy conversations, sequencing decisions, and publishing-path discussions. Written feedback on submitted poems and manuscript sections addresses both the poem-level (imagery, rhythm, syntax, revision) and the book-level (how the submitted work functions within the larger manuscript).

What are the writing goals?

In this mentorship, poets will work toward assembling and revising a chapbook-length or full-length poetry manuscript. Writers submit poems and manuscript sections on an agreed-upon schedule and receive detailed written feedback, followed by live Zoom conversations to discuss revisions, sequencing decisions, and next steps. The mentorship is individualized to the specific needs of each manuscript.

By the end of the program, participants will have:

• A revised manuscript draft — chapbook or full-length, depending on track — ready to submit
• A clear, practical strategy for submitting the manuscript to presses or contests

Chapbook Track participants receive four rounds of written feedback on submitted poems and manuscript sections across the four-month program.

Full-Length Track participants receive six rounds of written feedback on submitted poems and manuscript sections across the six-month program.

Click HERE to Apply Now.

COURSE OUTLINE

Because this is a one-on-one mentorship, the structure remains flexible and tailored to each writer's manuscript. A typical progression follows this arc:

Full-Length Track (6 Months):

• Month 1 — Manuscript Assessment: Review the participant's existing body of poems and identify potential thematic threads, images, and directions for the manuscript.
• Month 2 — Expanding and Revising the Body of Work: Revision of poems and development of additional material where needed.
• Month 3 — Sequencing and Structure: Exploring ordering strategies and possible manuscript sections.
• Month 4 — Deep Revision: Strengthening poems and refining their relationship to the larger manuscript.
• Month 5 — Manuscript Refinement: Clarifying the collection's arc and strengthening weaker sections.
• Month 6 — Preparing for Publication: Discussing chapbook contests, small presses, submission strategies, and next steps.

Chapbook Track (4 Months):

• Month 1 — Manuscript Assessment: Review the participant's existing body of poems and identify thematic threads and directions for the chapbook.
• Month 2 — Revision and Development: Strengthening existing poems and developing additional material where needed.
• Month 3 — Sequencing and Refinement: Exploring ordering strategies and clarifying the chapbook's arc.
• Month 4 — Preparing for Publication: Discussing chapbook contests, small presses, submission strategies, and next steps.

Click HERE to Apply Now.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Develop a working chapbook or full-length poetry manuscript
• Learn strategies for sequencing poems into a cohesive collection
• Strengthen revision practices across multiple drafts
• Identify thematic threads across your body of work
• Gain practical insight into chapbook contests, small presses, and manuscript submission strategies

TESTIMONIALS:

"Melanie's seminars have been the best part of this module. The prompts given to write poems have inspired a lot of my work. The discussions on other poems have made me think a lot of what I am doing in my poetry."

— Former Student

"Professor Han's ability to give us almost full freedom when writing, and the overall environment was great, allowing for collaborative efforts among students. The material was also very relevant to current events, and Professor Han helped us stay engaged by presenting generationally relevant topics."

— Former Student

"This course pushed me beyond the limits of my writing. It was nice to be exposed to a lot of different writing techniques (in the area of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.). We talked together about topics, which made me have a better understanding of writing creatively."

— Former Student

Click HERE to Apply Now.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Full-Length Track Tuition is $4,495 USD. Chapbook Track Tuition is $2,995 USD. You can pay for the mentorship in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Melanie Hyo-In Han
• Format: One-on-One IndieMFA Mentorship
• Meeting Cadence: Biweekly Zoom sessions, scheduled directly between mentor and mentee upon acceptance
• Manuscript Exchange: Written feedback delivered via Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom
• Chapbook Track: 4 months / 4 rounds of written feedback / Tuition $2,995 USD
• Full-Length Track: 6 months / 6 rounds of written feedback / Tuition $4,495 USD
• Applications accepted on a rolling basis.