All Blogposts

  • NoNaBloPoMo or to put it another way.. not doing nablopomo

    NoNaBloPoMo or to put it another way.. not doing nablopomo

    Hard to believe it’s almost November again.  This time last year, I took part in National Blog Posting Month, or nablopomo, and posted every day during November.  I had a lot of fun and made new friends taking part in this challenge – and I am tempted to join in again!  However, I’ve decided to… Read more

  • Some recent news

    Some recent news

    I update my ‘News’ page regularly but I realise that this won’t show up if you follow this blog via email or via WordPress.  So, yes, there is some happy personal news over there that I would like to share with you!  I won First Prize in the Buzzwords Poetry Competition with my poem The… Read more

  • Reading and writing poems about ‘Where I’m From’. #writerinschool

    Reading and writing poems about ‘Where I’m From’. #writerinschool

    As I’ve mentioned before, I’m using this blog as a place to keep a record of my residency at St Gregory’s Catholic College, Bath, a non-selective comprehensive school for young people aged 11 – 18.  I go into school one day a week, run a creative club (open to any student) during break and at… Read more

  • Claudia Rankine in conversation in Bristol

    Claudia Rankine in conversation in Bristol

    I wanted to jot down some thoughts while they’re still fresh in my head after hearing Claudia Rankine in conversation with David Olusoga in Bristol last Friday. The evening started with David Olusoga telling Claudia Rankine that  Citizen, Rankine’s book of lyrical essays, fragments, and images of artwork, is like no other poetry book he’s… Read more

  • Notes from a half-empty nest

    Notes from a half-empty nest

    A flurry of exam results, celebrations, book-buying, bag-packing, car-loading, kisses and hugs, and our daughter, Kitty, is now settled into her university accommodation.  Overnight, the average age of our household has gone up.  The numbers of showers being taken and apples being eaten have gone down.  There is less fruit tea being drunk and less… Read more

  • Primers Poets Volume Two at Drawing Projects UK

    Primers Poets Volume Two at Drawing Projects UK

    I wanted to say how much I enjoyed hearing Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller, and Marvin Thompson read at Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge, on Saturday 30 September. These three poets are the winners of the 2017 Nine Arches Press/Poetry School Primers Competition which offered a prize of one year of mentoring with poets, editors and educators … Read more