Standing up to cancer?

I am not completely stupid. I know celebrity culture is here to stay. As my children frequently remind me, ‘It … More

The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser

The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More

To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in … More

I want to congratulate you on passing this course and achieving QTS in this uniquely difficult and strange year. None … More

Calling all Winning & Highly Commended Foyle Young Poets 2012 – 2019 If you are a young writer who … More

Today I had one of the most precious teaching experiences of my life. Because we are taking strike action … More

Once again I find myself in a place that I hoped never to revisit. In 2018, the union I belong … More

Ann Sansom is one of my all-time favourite people, poets or normal, ever. I count myself fortunate to have worked … More

That isn’t me in the photo, though it could be. A bald man in vaguely sportif clothing trying to take an … More

It’s a funny feeling, almost new each time I experience it, an anticipation of loss that is somehow fresh and … More

The Curtain Falls Suddenly a life is over – Ends with such serious charades The Dean makes lame quips … More

‘Even the poetic world is social’ (Bakhtin, 1981, 300). This time next week, Saturday 23 June, I will be presenting … More

I went home the other day. I mean home-home, where I was born, and where my parents still live. … More

These are some of the things I have learned during the recent industrial action taken by my union, the UCU, … More

An Horatian Notion The thing gets made, gets built, and you’re the slave who rolls the log beneath the block, … More

from A New Guide 7 Look at this arch. It is part of a building more than seven hundred years old. … More

from Cats and a Cock We walk the streets of the dark city, placards at back light in our heads, … More

One of the most inspiring things about being involved in the UCU USS pensions strike has been the outpouring of … More