My next online poetry course (which begins on 21st January) is specifically aimed at neurodivergent folk who want to explore and examine their own experience of being neurodivergent through poetry. It’s aimed at people who already have some previous experience of writing (maybe you studied poetry at university, or have attended writing workshops a few times) and it is open to anyone who is (or who thinks they might be) neurodivergent, whether you are officially diagnosed or not. But I also want to share some resources in this blog post that I’ve found helpful, both as a neurodivergent writer and as a teacher. So here are details of the course, followed by some resources… Continue reading
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Two Beginner Poetry Courses for Autumn 2026
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
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
What makes a good poetry festival?
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
Celebrating Ten Years of Book Blogging Today! Here are My Top Ten Poetry Books…
Today is officially my 10th Book-Blog-Birthday! To celebrate 10 years of book blogging, I have selected my Top Ten Poetry Books from the past 10 years of reviewing! When I first started this book blog, I spent several days struggling with the impossible decision of what genre to focus on. I love poetry, but I also love reading lots of other genres. In the end I decided that the blog should reflect the blogger: I would blog equally about poetry and fiction, and about literary events and festivals too, creating a space that reflects who I am, and which books I enjoy reading. Continue reading
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
Experimenting with Form & Technique: A New Online Poetry Course
UPDATE: I’ll be running two online creative writing courses starting in May! Poetry: Experimenting with Form & Technique begins on 4th May, and will be available to book soon. This self-paced course is aimed at poets who already have some experience of writing poetry, and would like to develop their skills. It will include 3 Live Workshops on Monday evenings, delivered via Teams (on 11th May, 6th June, 6th July). 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
A Summer of Publication: Poetry, Fiction and The Submission Process
As with buses, you can wait many months for a poem to be published, only to find that several publications come all at once. Suddenly, it looks as though you’ve become incredibly prolific, when the reality is that much of the writing and editing has been going on behind the scenes for several years! This summer has been particularly fruitful for me. I’ve also been lucky enough to be involved in a poetry-chain project organised by Gill Connors, and the launch of my poetry-film (which I began work on last summer) will take place at the end of October. 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
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
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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Poetry Review: This Common Uncommon by Rae Howells
Can poetry protect the natural world? Can it actually change the course of events? Many poets are attempting to do just that, but it’s not often that a collection is published with a specific purpose, centred on a particular location. Rae Howells’ latest book focuses on West Cross Common, a small area of peat-based heathland on the edge of Swansea, which is currently under threat of development. But these poems do far more than protest. They celebrate the minutiae of a rare and intricate habitat, the kind of inconspicuous scrubland that many of us would normally walk past without a second glance.
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A Month of Poetry: Highlights from The Sealey Challenge
I first attempted the Sealey Challenge in 2021. The aim is to read a whole book of poetry every day throughout the month of August. And this year I decided to try it again, thinking it would be a helpful way to delve into the stack of poetry books that I’ve been meaning to read for the last few months. Although there were a couple of days when I read poetry magazines, rather than collections, I think my total of 28 out of 31 days is pretty good going. So here are my favourite books from this year’s Sealey Challenge… Continue reading
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
Recent Audio Recordings, Performances, and Collaborative/Collage Poems
I have always loved attending poetry readings. There is something unique about a performance, where the combination of setting, audience, and sound creates a space in which each and every word reverberates beyond the page on which it was written. I am delighted to now have three of my poems published as audio clips in the online poetry magazine iamb… So I thought I’d write a blog post to celebrate, and to look back on some other audio poems that I’ve created in the last few years.
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Review: New Poetry Collections by Clare E. Potter and Rhian Elizabeth
It’s been a while since I last posted a book review… so here are two new poetry collections by two local South Wales poets, both of which I highly recommend: Healing the Pack by clare e potter is published by Verve Poetry Press, and Rhian Elizabeth’s collection girls etc is published by Broken Sleep Books.
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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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My Literary Highlights of 2023 – Publication, Art & The PhD!
This year has been an incredible milestone, with the publication of my debut collection Octopus Mind in July. It felt like everything was leading up to that moment, and the launch was a wonderful celebration of all that hard work, cheered on by the people who have encouraged and supported me over the past 39 years. Continue reading