I am delighted that one of my new insect poems, “Artificial Light at Night (ALAN)” was Highly Commended in this year’s Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry. You can find the poem, alongside many other brilliant poems, in this year’s Ginkgo Prize Ecopoetry Anthology The poem was inspired by Douglas Boyes’ groundbreaking research about the detrimental effects …
Author Archives: Rachel Bower
OCD and the brain
It’s been a total honour working with young people living with OCD, alongside their parents, researchers and OCD charities to co-develop toolkits for young people and future research ideas for the project at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging at University College London (UCL). OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) affects 12 in every 1000 people, the …
Sheaf Poetry Festival
There’s an amazing programme of events on this week for Sheaf Poetry Festival in Sheffield and online (21-28 May 2023). The programme is jam-packed with inspiring events – get your in-person or online pass now! I’ve been working with some amazing young writers on the Hive Online Fiction Programme over the last few weeks, and …
Writing into Spring
The sap is rising! I’ve been incredibly busy lately with my insect poems, workshops and readings. I’ve been working with some brilliant projects and organisations and wanted to celebrate some of them here. It was a joy to join the LeedsLit Fest Spring Rhythm event last week at the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, with …
Mothering in Neonatal Intensive Care: Exhibition Launch
Last year I was lucky enough to work with Sushila Chowdhry (University of Dundee), Maya Chowdhry and Jessica Howarth on an incredible project facilitating creative workshops with mothers of preterm babies who have experienced neonatal units. The project drew on creative methods to listen to women in holistic ways, focussing on the embodied experience of …
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Insects & miniature works
It’s an honour to be travelling to Uppsala University at the end of October to explore possibilities around short works, biodiversity and climate change. I’ll be taking part in a range of workshops and meetings, including a day-long day gathering with a school called HOME in Östervåla, hosted Anna Björkman and Dougald Hine. The following …
Your Mind Matters
It’s been brilliant working with young people from Forces Children Scotland to explore the unique challenges they face in relation to their wellbeing and mental health. Earlier in the year, we ran a residential weekend of creative workshops to co-produce materials for the Your Mind Matters website. The young people also produced a stunning group …
Insects, bees, poems
June is a strange month for bees. On the one hand, it seems that everything should be blooming, but on the other, we get what beekeepers call the June gap – a sudden and significant reduction in pollen and nectar, which means that honey bees are at risk of starvation. This is a phenomenon of …
Festival of Debate
It’s awesome to see South Yorkshire’s Festival of Debate back with a packed programme after everything had to be cancelled at the start of the pandemic. One of the events that promises to be brilliant is Helen Mort in conversation with professional climber Shauna Coxsey MBE about her new book A Line Above the Sky …
Let’s Talk About Cough
It’s exciting to be working with other artists, researchers and facilitators on the Let’s Talk About Cough story exchange. It’s an online creative project, which will bring together people who’ve lived with cough, carers and researchers to share stories and knowledge in friendly, informal sessions. For some people coughs can become long-term and researchers in …
Poetry Film: Water Birth
It’s been wonderful working with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation and Poet in the City on a new film of my poem, “Water Birth.” The poem is about the babies born in the Mediterranean Sea, many of them in treacherous conditions or on rescue boats. The film is out now, directed Matthew Thompson: This poem …
Rachel Bower 