Category: News

Have you ever fancied turning a poem into a short film? Back in 2018 I was invited to join The Poetry Film Collective, an Arts Council-funded series of workshops led by Helen Dewbery and Chaucer Cameron of Poetry Film Live, designed to teach poets some of the basic skills of poetry film-making. If you'd like to …

Continue reading "Making poetry films: a guest blog for the Children’s Poetry Summit"

Hot Poets is an award-winning, internationally focused initiative that seeks to powerfully communicate climate change science and action through spoken word poetry. Their latest project is 'Haiku Futures', in which Hot Poets have partnered with UNFCCC’s Resilience Frontiers to create a global participation project to gather your ideas for a better future. In the weeks leading …

Continue reading "‘Haiku Futures’ by Hot Poets: bringing poetry and science together to imagine a better possible future"

It's Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, and this year's theme is 'Anxiety'. Here's a guest blog post I wrote for the Children's Poetry Summit. It includes an extract from a free resource on using poems as a 'way in' to help young people talk about mental health issues. In this example, I explore social anxiety. …

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Roger Stevens is, as well as a much-loved children's poet,  a songwriter and musician who brings to his work a combination of thoughtful lyrics, good melodies and more than a dash of humour. Roger performs and records his songs and has a number of albums out on CD, the latest of which I'm delighted to have …

Continue reading "‘Carter’s Originals’: four songs on Roger Stevens’ latest album"

This November, The Charles Causley Trust is featuring a series of poems written for children on its blog 'The Maker'. The month kicked off with an article on the man himself, and his ability to write accessible but unpatronising poetry for younger audiences: Rhythm, Rhyme and Form: How Causley Changed Poetry Writing for Kids I popped up …

Continue reading "‘Don’t’: new poem on Charles Causley Trust Blog ‘The Maker’"

The Big Amazing Poetry Book is beautiful door-stopper of a book edited by Gaby Morgan, introduced by Roger McGough and illustrated by Chris Riddell.  It's a warm, funny collection that's packed with all different styles of poetry - ballads, riddles, tongue-twisters, shape poems, haikus, sonnets and raps - about seasons, festivals, animals, birds, love, war, …

Continue reading "The Big Amazing Poetry Book – 52 weeks of poetry from 52 brilliant poets"

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something — a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things — that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand …

Continue reading "Poetry and mental health: a guest blog for the Children’s Poetry Summit"

I'm really excited about my second collection of poems for young people, which will be published by Troika in October. It's called 'You Are Not Alone', it's aimed at teen and young adult readers,  and it's all about exploring mental health and wellbeing. Young people’s mental health has never been so high on the public …

Continue reading "New book on young people’s mental health: You Are Not Alone"