I’ll be running two beginner poetry courses this autumn. One of these is an online general poetry course, open to anyone who’d like to start writing poetry, or to take a fresh look at the nuts and bolts of how poetry writing works. The other course will be in-person (in Cardiff, UK) and is specifically focused on poetry that explores neurodiversity, open to anyone who has (or who thinks they might have) lived experience of neurodivergence (diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or undiagnosed). Continue reading
neurodiversity
Summer Update: Academic Writing and Poetry
This year has been a rather unusual one for the life of a poet. I never imagined that I’d end up writing an academic book, but that’s exactly what has happened. Ekphrastic Poetry in Practice: Art and Words in Conversation is close to completion, and will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in late 2027. Continue reading
A Review of Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent Poets
This new anthology of poems by deaf, disabled and neurodivergent poets feels weighty, in both a literal and a metaphorical sense. The poems explore a vast range of different ways in which our minds and bodies can exist or present differently, but there is a thread of oblique disruption that seems to run throughout. What intrigued me initially about this new anthology was not the poetry itself, but the front cover (which isn’t easy to look at, being an optical illusion), described on the inside page: 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
Book Review: Explaining Humans by Dr Camilla Pang
As a young autistic girl, Camilla Pang asked her mother if there was such a thing as an instruction manual on the human race. Of course, the answer was no. Years later, now a qualified scientist, she has written her version of such a manual. This is an intriguing book, written from the perspective of someone who has had to self-consciously learn much of what most of us take for granted. It is amusing and thought-provoking in more ways than one. Continue reading
Llais Newydd: A New Welsh Poetry Press
Llais Newydd is not your average poetry press. The name means ‘new voice’ in English, and it was set up by Dee Dickens and Joe Thomas to provide a platform for marginalised voices. Each of them knows from personal experience what it feels like to be outside of the norm, and they are both poets themselves. I interviewed Dee to find out more about how this new poetry press came about…
Book Review: Just So You Know – Essays of Experience
This slim volume of essays invites the reader to step briefly into someone else’s shoes and see the world from a different perspective. It gives voice to those who often go unheard, challenging our preconceptions on race, disability, language, mental health, gender and more. But it also interrogates the concept of identity itself. How Welsh are you? How disabled are you? How black are you? Together, these writers explore what it means to grapple with the varied aspects of ourselves, our families and our culture(s). Continue reading
Book Review: The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway by Rhys Thomas
The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway is a rather unusual book, based around the seemingly ordinary exploits of Sam Holloway – a young man who dresses up as a superhero at night. It’s a beautifully written, heartfelt story, which is both hilarious and tragic at the same time. We gradually delve deeper into Sam Holloway’s world, and begin to understand the circumstances which have led him to lead this double life – an incredible weight of sorrow with which he has learned to live. Continue reading