New North Poets with The Poetry School

I was one of five winners of the New North Poets Prize at the 2017 Northern Writers’ Awards, which was an amazing experience and milestone on my writing journey.

The Prize was judged by Clare Pollard, and the five of us went on to complete a year of mentoring with Clare and The Poetry School. This included online group writing and editing sessions, two writing retreats in Northumberland, performing at the Poetry Café in London with brilliant Caroline Bird, and attending the 2018 TS Eliot Readings.

The culmination of our year working together was our book GASP, which is available to read online. I have four poems in it, about the environment, whales, the body, blood, religion, home and travel, and loneliness.

I was invited to perform poems from GASP at the Northern Poetry Showcase in late 2018 at York St. John University, and it was a lovely evening. The story of that night went on to be told in my poem ‘Winter blazer’, which has become one of my open-mic staples.

My New North Poets year was a key one in my poetry career, and I’m really proud of all we achieved.