Lifesaving Poems: Sean O’Brien’s ‘Before’

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

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

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of … More

I was on the phone to a writer friend the other week. In itself this is a rare occurrence: normally … More

I found myself in the position of giving feedback to some writers recently. The writers were teachers who had signed … More

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

I have been thinking a lot recently about Alan Booth, my English teacher from the ages of 11 to 13. … More

Last week saw an important milestone for Teachers as Writers. The CPD/feedback day gave everyone involved in the project – … More

And though I only met you once, your influence on me is massive, or should that be was I don’t … More

I first encountered Siân Hughes‘s poems sitting around a table with some talented teenage poets at the Arvon Foundation‘s writing … More

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

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

When the Arvon student is put in posession of that creative self, which was hitherto inaccessible, two things, in particular, … More

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

Along with colleagues from the Arvon Foundation, The Open University and University of Exeter I have just begun … More

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Jean Sprackland, between 1999-2001 I had the privilege of working with the great … More

I was very saddened to learn recently of the death of Michael Baldwin, the novelist, poet, writing tutor and former … More

I once heard Stephen Knight say ‘If I am reading well then I am writing well.’ It was a Q … More