This is an extract from my article (just published in Stand 18.3), about the urgency of creating new records and archives in response to absences in official archives. from Unofficial Archives in the 1950s and 1960s: Leeds, Ibadan, Hull and Zaria “… Over the last couple of years I have been researching some of the …
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Butcher’s Dog 14 Launch
Butcher’s Dog is a brilliant poetry magazine published in the North East of England. I’m delighted to have a poem in Issue 14, edited with care and precision by Jo Clement and Aoife Lyall, both excellent poets in their own right. At the launch the Editors talked about how the poems in this issue ‘bridge’ …
The A3 Review: Issue 13
Issue 13 of the The A3 Review is now out! I guest edited the magazine with editor Shaun Levin (who has done a fab job with the design!) It’s a beauty. The issue is packed with poems, short prose and collages about grief, breath, disappearing and superpowers. Thanks to all of the contributors – it …
Teaching & Events Online
This week I’ve been teaching Creative Writing to new students at the University of Leeds via online seminars. As my work usually involves a lot of live workshops and readings, I’ve been thinking hard over recent weeks about how to create welcoming, supportive spaces online: how can we re-create effective, friendly workshops and literary salons …
Interview: Martin Banham
A few extracts from my recent interview with Professor Martin Banham, published in the anniversary issue of Moving Worlds (20.1). In the inaugural issue of Moving Worlds, Martin introduced an extract from Wole Soyinka’s highly satirical play, King Baabu. Martin has nurtured a lifelong passion for African theatre and performance cultures: after graduating from the University of Leeds in …
Habitats
I’ve just arrived home from two weeks in Scotland – a combination of wild camping, youth hostelling and sleeping in a hand-built kata at Comrie Croft’s beautiful eco-site. It was a lovely (if challenging!) adventure with the kids – fields of midges and ticks; a heat wave; brilliant white beaches; common seals; storms and high …
Ecopoetics & Climate Writing
In her ‘Covid Time Capsule’ my seven year old daughter wrote that the thing she has learned during lockdown is that “you don’t have to go very far.” We live in an urban area, less than two miles from Sheffield city centre, and even though we’ve always spent a lot of time outside, during lockdown …
Walter Swan 18-25 Poetry Prize, ILF 2020
I am delighted to be judging the Walter Swan 18-25 Poetry Prize this year for the Ilkley Literature Festival. The theme of this year’s competition is ‘A Kindness’. Please send us your poems and spread the word! Established in memory of the writer Walter Swan, the Walter Swan Trust encourages all forms of creative writing, …
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2019/20
It’s such an honour to have won the The London Magazine Short Story Prize this year with my story “Against the Tide.” I’d like to thank the panel of judges and everyone involved for their time and energy in making this happen, especially during such challenging times. I am sorry that it hasn’t been possible …
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Northern Short Story Festival 2020
I’m very proud to be involved in the Northern Short Story Festival 2020 and I want to thank SJ Bradley and the team for summoning the energy and creativity to get this brilliant festival online! The festival is celebrating its fifth birthday this year – and wherever you are in the world you can now …
Sheffield Stories – Collections in Verse
Over the last year, I’ve been working on a project called Collections in Verse in Sheffield, commissioned by the British Library and Poet in the City, along with two other brilliant poets – Joe Kriss and Kayo Chingonyi. The idea of the project is to bring the British Library exhibitions to life through poetry and …
Rachel Bower 