After a few years of not going to any regular writing events, other than the lovely Stanza I organise here in Trowbridge, I'm taking part in the 2019/20 Poetry Business Writing School which means I'll be up in Sheffield several times a year for workshops and I've already begun reading for the course and completing … Continue reading A student again
Last week I mentioned that the Poetry Society had a callout for poems that take note, in some way, of 99 of the mostly commonly used words used in 40 years of the National Poetry Competition. I wasn't going to write anything for this because I thought it was too much of a distraction from … Continue reading A few poetry notes
Goodbye, January. You weren't that bad.... actually, you were bad but, weirdly, I still felt a tenderness towards you when I turned the page of our calendar. And just as you said goodbye and made way for February, you let fall a skyful of snow. which held me hostage in my house for a day … Continue reading Snowed in
A new poem of mine was commended in the Poetry Society's Stanza competition, a yearly event for people who are both members of the Poetry Society and a Stanza (poetry groups run voluntarily by Society members). As I've mentioned before, I organise the Trowbridge Stanza which meets on the first Saturday of every month at Drawing … Continue reading ‘To Bring Me Luck’ – new poem
A new poem of mine has been longlisted in Live Canon's International Poetry Competition. Naturally, I'm sad that it didn't make it to the shortlist and so won't be performed by the amazing Live Canon Ensemble at the Prizewinners' Show (which is always a gorgeous afternoon of poetry and camaraderie and really worth attending - … Continue reading The Circus of the Marvellously Menopausal Woman
I'm pleased to say that I've been awarded a Local Artists Bursary by Ginkgo Projects, funded by Bloor Homes for the Kings Gate Public Art Programme, which I am using to write some new poems in response to the landscape and heritage of the area in and around Amesbury, Wiltshire. I live in the west … Continue reading Local Artist Bursary from Ginkgo Projects / Bloor Homes
As you know, I was Writer in Residence at St Gregory's School, Bath, in the academic year 2017-2018, and I've been using this blog as a place to record my experience, especially workshops I've run. This is a post about using two poems by Katherine Stansfield, 'How to make a good crisp sandwich' and 'Socks … Continue reading Poetry workshop ideas: #writerinschool
Huge thanks to the editors of the website Bookanista for featuring a poem from my book What Are You After? You can read 'Love in the time of hospital visits' a love poem for my husband, Andrew, and for the NHS, here.
I wanted to write a few posts before my residency at St Gregory's Catholic College ends, especially mentioning poems that prompted a lot of animated discussion and produced some exciting creative writing from school students. 'Other Clouds' by Rebecca Perry from her collection Beauty/Beauty (Bloodaxe, 2015) and 'what my mother (a poet) might say' by Mary … Continue reading Poems that find a way to say what isn’t said #writerinschool
Here is a lovely blog by Jayne Stanton about my launch on Saturday and about Nine Arches Press' 10th Birthday Party. A huge thank you to everyone who came to hear me read and helped to celebrate ten years of a wonderful independent press. A reminder that there is free postage on all books at … Continue reading My book is published
