On truancy

There is a certain jubilation and truancy at the heart of an inspiration […a] liberation and abundance which is the…

On reputation

It’s complicated. Say you are out and about and want to buy a cup of coffee. I’m not going there,…

I am grateful to Victoria Field of NAWE for reviewing Lifesaving Poems in the current edition of Writing in Education. You can download…

I arrive late back at the house. It is already dark. The usual reassuring things are there: unopened mail, the…

Teachers’ words should not be ‘How to write’ but ‘How to try to say what you really mean’ – which…

‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as…

Photo credit: from Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (p 138) This is a poster presentation I gave at…

Here is a quotation from Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception that I have been meditating on for a while now. I have…

An event of this magnitude Overshadows the destruction of the Berlin Wall And the troubles in the Caucasus. –Robert Rehder,…

The value of poetry is that it should matter … first to the writer and then to the reader. Michael…

I first met Maurice in the sitting room of a mutual friend, a lifelong Labour supporter, the night after the…

‘80% of success is showing up.’ -Woody Allen I was chatting with a student the other day when I said…

That CK Williams has died. More than two weeks ago! One of my heroes. This is the first thing I…

Those kind and wonderful people at Change This have just released a new batch of free, downloadable manifestos. These articles…

Now for the other life. The one without mistakes. –Lou Lipsitz A year ago I found myself not looking at…

Poetry and Work I recently took out a book via Interlibrary loan called, The Mind at Work: Valuing the…

Travelling without a visa It seems to me that all writing comes from a place of resistance inside –…

Below is the text of a PowerPoint presentation that I am giving today at the Directors of Studies Conference 2015, at Port…