Last May I attended the Aberystwyth Poetry Festival, and came away buzzing with ideas. But what was it that made this poetry festival so special? I have been pondering this question for a while now. Of course, everyone will have different experiences of literary festivals. Having organized a few literary events myself, I am aware of just how much unpaid labour often goes into making them happen. Festival organisers often work with very little, if any, funding, and rely heavily on small teams of dedicated volunteers. So here are a few reflections from a poetry festival addict, and please do share your own experiences using the comments below. Continue reading
Festivals & Events
My Poetry Film at StAnza Poetry Festival and Upcoming Readings
I’m delighted to have my poetry film ‘Fragments of Us’ selected as one of the films to be shown at the StAnza Poetry Festival this year! The film will be available to view online, and also in St Andrews, where it will be screened at the Byre Theatre, 13-15th March 2026. Continue reading
‘Fragments of Us’ Poetry Film *Now Online* & Photos of the Launch
My poetry-film ‘Fragments of Us’ is now available to view online! You can watch it here. I’ve also written about the process of creating it in this previous blog post. To celebrate this milestone, I thought I’d share some of the photos from the launch event, a reel of creative responses from those who came along, and a short video clip showing my interactive collage book. Continue reading
Extending the Ekphrastic Conversation with SHAPE Arts
In May 2024 I finally submitted the hard copies of my thesis, and wondered what might come next. With a creative writing PhD, the creative component (in my case, a collection of poems) is usually published as a book, though this process can take a long time. I still intend to publish my poetry collection in book form, but I’ve also had an opportunity to expand my creative work in a new, and unexpected direction. Continue reading
Online Creative Writing Courses – Poetry & Ekphrasis
I’m really excited to be delivering five online creative writing courses in 2025-6! These include three poetry courses: (1) Starting to Write, (2) Experimenting with Form & Technique, and (3) Pushing Poetic Boundaries. There will also be a course on ekphrastic writing, and I posted details about another course (Writing Neurodiversity) a couple of weeks ago. I’ve included a short summary of each course below, with links to find out more information and booking details… Continue reading
An Ekphrastic Celebration & Poetry-Film Launch!
I’m really excited to be launching a poetry-film at an in-person event on 30th October! ‘Fragments of Us’ was commissioned by SHAPE Arts. It combines poetry with a focus on the process of making, reflecting on the creativity of museum visitors who responded to an interactive poetry display that took place at National Museum Cardiff, as part of my PhD research, three years ago. The film incorporates some of the original words taken from museum visitors’ texts, linking them together in a way that embodies the social and relational aspects of this ongoing ekphrastic conversation. Continue reading
An Online Creative Writing Course: Writing Neurodiversity
I’m really excited to be teaching five different creative writing courses next year (2025-26) and all of these short courses will be taught online, so that means anyone, from anywhere, could sign up! One of these creative writing courses will be aimed at fellow neurodivergent writers. If that’s you, and you’re interested in reflecting on your own experience of neurodiversity through writing, then keep on reading… I’ll be posting more details about the other four courses very soon! Continue reading
Happy New Year! Here are my Literary Highlights of 2024
2024 began with the completion of the PhD, and then in May I was invited to read at the Aberystwyth Poetry Festival, where I enjoyed three days of sunshine and poetry performance. It meant a lot to me to be able to return to the place where it all began, reflecting on all that has happened since I began studying creative writing there in 2003. Nineteen-year-old me could never have imagined I would one day return, to read my poems in front of an audience at the town’s public library!
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A List of Poetry Festivals in the UK
Poetry festivals provide the ultimate opportunity to hear poets perform their work, and to enjoy discussing poetry with like-minded folk. So here is a list of poetry festivals taking place in the UK. I have previously attended Cheltenham, Verve and Ledbury myself, and was lucky enough to be invited to perform at the Aberystwyth festival this year(!) but would also love to attend or perform at many of the others (So, if you are a festival organiser, and would like to invite me along to do a reading or deliver a workshop, please do let me know…) Continue reading
Writing & Place – Celebrating the end of the PhD at Aberystwyth Poetry Festival
As an undergraduate creative writing student studying at Aberystwyth University, I struggled with the ‘writing place’ assignment. I didn’t feel any strong sense of connection with any particular location. Yet so many writers talk about the importance of place in their work. Many Welsh-born writers, in particular, celebrate their connection to the country of their birth. I have always been jealous of those writers who identify strongly with a particular place.
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An Ekphrastic Update: Exhibition, Course, and Conference
As my final year of being a PhD student draws to a close, I’m excited to be continuing my work on ekphrasis (writing poetry in response to art) in lots of different ways! First, there is still time to visit the Wales Millennium Centre where you can see our Explore Collective project exhibition: Freedom to Create.
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What Are You Looking For? An Ekphrastic Interactive Exhibition
Last year I put together an interactive poetry exhibition at National Museum Cardiff, and loads of people took part, writing poems and other texts in response to the artwork and other people’s poems, drawings and comments. Since then, as part of my PhD, I’ve been writing my own poems in response – an ekphrastic response to ekphrastic response… and some of my poems have morphed from text into 3D objects! Continue reading
An Online Book Launch!
I’m excited to announce that I’m having a second book launch! This one will be on Zoom, on 14th September from 7.30pm. I’m delighted to have two wonderful poets joining me as guest readers – Christina Thatcher and Mary Mulholland. The event is free to attend, but you’ll need to register via Eventbrite, to get the link. Continue reading
The books have arrived! And upcoming readings…
I am so so grateful to everyone who came along to my book launch last week. The room was full of friendly faces and my family came all the way from Sheffield, Manchester and Coventry, including my niece (age 7) who also writes poetry, and nephew (3 months) who slept through most of it. Clare Potter and Philip Gross gave wonderful readings, and we nearly sold out of books! I have now received my own big box of author copies, and will be selling them at other events. Continue reading
The Joys of Poetry Editing and Writing Retreats
I love editing my poems. There’s a thrill in getting that first draft down on the page, but nothing beats spending hours, days, weeks, months (even years) pondering over a poem, testing out words, switching line breaks, finding the perfect form. However, I’ve never been in quite this position before, knowing that the final changes I’m making right now will end up as an actual book of poems. My debut collection Octopus Mind is due for publication in July, and the deadline is looming. Continue reading
Soaking up the Poetry at Ledbury Poetry Festival
I’ve just spent two fabulous days losing myself in the delights of language at this year’s Ledbury Poetry Festival. It was hot and sunny, and although many of the events were available to watch online, I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of being right there, in the old town of Ledbury. The workshops were held upstairs in the Heritage Centre, a quaint (and very wonky) building, with a sloping floor. Continue reading
Cheltenham Literature Festival: Bernadine Evaristo, Sebastian Faulks and More…
The highlight of my day at the Cheltenham Literature Festival was seeing Bernadine Evaristo and Dawn French in conversation, but I must admit that I was too tired to take proper notes by this point (and too busy laughing!) so I can’t report all of what was said. It felt good, after the last two years, to be part of a live audience again, and it was fascinating to hear them discuss their own careers and compare writing techniques, both coming from a background of theatre and performance. They also discussed the controversial topic of white writers writing black characters, agreeing that so long as the characters are fully rounded, well-researched and well-written, it is good to create diverse characters in order to reflect the society in which we live. Continue reading
A Storytelling Festival at Dynefwr
I have just spent three glorious days at Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival. It was all outdoors, in sunshine and rain, beneath the towers of Dynefwr, a ruined Welsh castle. The atmosphere could not have been more fitting for my first post-covid literary event. Numbers were limited, of course, and there were social distancing rules in place, but it still felt truly magical. Continue reading
Poet in Residence at the Cynon Valley Museum
For the month of June I’ve been writing and posting new poems on the Cynon Valley Museum website, responding to their online art exhibitions, and artefacts from their collection. I was privileged to work at the museum for a few months last year, before starting my PhD, and was impressed by their high quality art exhibitions, some of which you can now see online. Continue reading
Hay Festival 2020 – Digital Highlights
I plucked up the courage to attend the Hay Festival on my own for the first time ever in 2016, and I’ve been addicted ever since, so I’m glad that, despite financial uncertainty and the impossibility of running live events, the organisers have managed to create the next best thing – Hay Festival online. And there are benefits – no queueing for the toilet, no stampede in the book tent, no backache from those awkward plastic chairs, and easy access for so many who would normally miss out. But I really do miss the buzz of literary excitement, the roar of applause at the end of an event, and the delicious taste of Shepherds ice cream in the sun.
So here are a few of my highlights from Hay Festival 2020, celebrating the legacy of Wordsworth, the beauty of language, the culture of China, and the relaxation of reading… Continue reading