Open letter to Alicia Stubbersfield (LentBlog31)

  Dear Alicia I can’t believe it is three years since I got to hang out with you at Totleigh … More

Ann Sansom’s ‘Instructor’ (LentBlog10)

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

Writing in the cracks

I was having a coffee with a new writer friend the other day. Not having known each other for very … More

What we talk about when we talk about writing

The more I talk about writing with students, teachers, colleagues and other writers, the less I am sure that we … More

Stealing

  One of the joys of working on the Teachers as Writers project is that I get to steal. As … More

Living and breathing Arvon

  ‘I’ve been at the field.’ This, spoken by one of the teachers on last week’s writing residential at Totleigh … More

Thirteen ways of remembering Ted Hughes

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

Why poetry matters

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

Writing and silence

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More