Why we need Aldeburgh

Dan O’Brien began by saying he wasn’t really a poet, but a ‘moonlighting playwright’. Selima Hill took out her glasses, … More

On poetry and blogging

In preparation for this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I was asked some questions about my blogging by Festival programmer Dean … More

The Burning Of The Houses Tottenham is on fire and I work in an arts centre where the sky is … More

Mark Doty had it. And John Hartley Williams. And Esther Morgan. And Roy Blackman, introducing Mark Doty talking about Whitman. … More

Photo credit: Felix Clay, The Guardian Heard I can’t remember a time in my teaching career when there wasn’t … More

Medicine The black hair of my Chinese doctor gleams like combed ink as he leans over his desk, with quick … More

The other day I was asked what I look for in poetry. Needing to give a quick answer I said: I … More

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. Robert Frost … More

Never having succeeded at school, I’ve always thought of poetry as the holidays, not term time. Hugo Williams In November … More