MA in Writing Poetry Alumni Profiles

Meet our MA in Writing Poetry Graduates, hear their stories and check out their achievements.

Applications for the MA in Writing Poetry are currently open. Please visit the accrediting university, Newcastle’s admissions page for details here.

Joshua Hallam MA, Class of 2024

What have you been up to since you graduated?
Since graduating I’ve carried on my poetry community events organisation, Word Space. With a good bit of imposter syndrome whittled away, my workshopping and editing have switched up a gear, and Word Space now has 16 events taking place across London every month. Also community poetry events, workshops, online courses, publishing an indy annual poetry magazine – Kite String (on our 3rd edition), and a partnership with Waterstones.
Working with another former MA student, Ewan Monaghan, and the Writing School Online – I’ve organised poetry performance events showcasing some of the best and brightest in poetry including Liz Berry, Ella Frears and Kim Addonizio.

In my own practice, I was beyond stunned to have a poem longlisted in the National Poetry Competition 2024 (a poem from my final portfolio, no less).

I also teach a beginner level poetry writing course with The Writing School Online.

What inspires your poetry?
I typically write about people. I think we’re unfathomably weird and I can’t even start to make sense of us. I like writing what’s going on in our heads. A good poem helps me to know a tiny bit more about our shared strange condition. I like to try and write those poems.

What are your future poetry plans?
I hope to expand Word Space. I think there’s a growing, radical necessity for spaces where people can actually listen to each other and I love being able to use the time and the skills I have, to help build those places where attention isn’t monetised and scrapped over but deeply appreciated. I find it amazing that poetry seems capable of helping even a tiny bit with that massive societal problem; I just got into it because I liked ranting about words with likeminded people but it seems to have gotten out of hand in a great, cascading way.
I’m also clubbing away at a pamphlet manuscript and when it’s ready, would love for someone to swoop down and publish that one day.

How did studying on the MA in Writing Poetry affect your work?
The course gave me the confidence and grounding in knowledge to teach, hold space for other poets working on their craft, and introduce people to poetry. The learning is so intense and thorough, that I left feeling like I might actually know what I’m talking about!

I’m categorically a better editor after spending two years witnessing the editing and input of such incredible coursemates. The analysis, quality and range of perspectives in workshops helped me with all of the skills that I use every day in workshops.

Why did you choose to study the MA in Writing Poetry at Poetry School?
A recommendation from a very trusted and, as it turns out, bang on source.

Do you have any particular memories of the MA that you would like to share?
Summer School in Newcastle was particularly good. The guest tutors were incredible and being together as a cohort was such a lovely way to finish the journey.

Tell us about a moment in a workshop, masterclass or tutorial that affected your writing.
Every single workshop, masterclass and tutorial were formative and constructive to my writing practice. The one example that jumps to mind was ‘sonnets’: semester one, year one. C.K. Williams’ ‘The Doe’ still remains one of my favourite poems and this session introduced me to the poet who is my biggest influence and ‘mentor’. A core doctrine of the course, where content meets form, came out in this session and remains part of my thinking every time I pick up a pen, or rant at a workshop group.

You can sign up to the Word Space mailing list here and also follow on instagram at @wordspacepoems.

And check out the Word Space events here.

Mary Mulholland MA, Class of 2019

When did you start writing poetry?
Around 2009 when I randomly registered for a Pascale Petit workshop term at the Tate Modern.

What have you been up to since you graduated from the MA?
With fellow graduates, Roger Bloor and Vanessa Lampert, we set up a poetry magazine, The Alchemy Spoon (Vanessa later left and Diana Cant took her place) We are now on issue 16. I had already founded a workshop group, Red Door Poets, and in 2020 we started our very successful online platform of Readings with Special Guests.

Although I’d tried competitions and been shortlisted in Wasafiri and Bridport, I didn’t start submitting to magazines until I graduated. Since then my work has been published widely, including Under the Radar, Arc, Stand, Magma, Rialto, Mslexia, Aesthetica, and I’ve had several competition successes too. I have two collaborations with Simon Maddrell and Vasiliki Albedo, (Nine Pens), a pamphlet from Live Canon, another forthcoming from Broken Sleep. I’m working on a collection right now.

What impact did the MA in Writing Poetry have on you?
It permitted me to make poetry central to my life, which I think I’d been avoiding.

Is there a moment on the course that you remember especially affecting your writing?
At Summer School in Newcastle, I felt overwhelmed as other people shared their near perfect poems during a workshop and I asked Tara Bergin if it was normal to feel this way. She said, “Absolutely”. She said could never share anything immediately, and invited me to email her my work. The poetry world can sometimes feel very competitive, but she was so authentic, so positive and encouraging about what I’d written.

You can read all about and check submission windows for The Alchemy Spoon, the poetry magazine that Mary co-founded and edits with fellow graduates, here.

Oenone Thomas MA, Class of 2024

When did you start writing poetry?
I have written for myself ever since I can remember. As a child I read all the time, and when I didn’t want the books I loved to end, I tried to make them continue!
Poetry came later, as a teenager, when I was trying to create soundscapes and more abstract impressions.

What inspires your poetry?
It’s the resonance of the sound of a word next to another word, or of a phrase, that gets a poem going. After that it feels like an invitation to play, and then whatever’s on my mind or central in my life at the time emerges into the open space.
The poems I have been writing in the last year have been a response to walking the Cuckmere Pilgrim Path. I’ve wanted to convey breathing, heartbeat, footsteps and intentions in the rhythms and forms of the poems as well as in their content.

What poetic success have you had since graduation?
I have had poems published in poetry magazines and anthologies, I was shortlisted in the Live Canon International Poetry Competition, and longlisted in the National Poetry Competition. I was also highly commended in the Sound of the Year Awards.
For the past year I have been poet in residence for the Cuckmere Pilgrim Path, and the residency culminates this month with the publication of my first collection, Self-Portrait as Scallop Shell.

What poetry plans do you have?
I have absolutely loved leading poetry-writing workshops as part of my residency year. It combines my passion for poetry with my experience in facilitating group work. I really enjoy coming up with new and interesting ways of generating writing and it’s a delight to watch others creating work in response.

How did studying on the MA in Writing Poetry affect your life?
Applying for the MA was the best decision I have ever made. It has transformed me and my writing.

Do you have any particular memories of the MA that you would like to share?
I have many great memories of the course, but I think overall it was the encouragement and unfailing support of tutors and fellow students that stands out.

Tell us about a moment in a workshop, masterclass or tutorial that affected your writing.
I remember Glyn Maxwell telling us that ‘line break is body language’ and something clicked and I have tested my work against this ever since.

Visit Oenone’s website and read more about her here.

Sue Wallace-Shaddad MA, Class of 2020

Do you have any poetry publication successes that you would like to share?
I have had three pamphlets published: A City Waking Up (Dempsey and Windle, 2020) about family, traditions, language and food in Sudan, Sleeping Under Clouds (Clayhanger Press, 2024) written in response to Sula Rubens’ paintings on the theme of displaced/refugee children and Once There Was Colour (Palewell Press 2024) about my family’s escape from the crisis in Sudan. (See links below).
I have been longlisted three times by Cinnamon Press in collection competitions and also previously by Maytree Press. Individual poems have been published by London Grip, Artemis, Fenland Poetry Journal, Ink Sweat & Tears, Poetry Space, The Alchemy Spoon, Acumen, Orbis and Finished Creatures among others.

What else have you been up to since you graduated?
I received an Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) award 2023/24 for mentoring by poet Rebecca Goss. I have run poetry events in Suffolk on a regular basis and poetry workshops in Suffolk, Essex and Cornwall for adults and year 6 school children. am resident poet for Friends of Ipswich Museums and digital writer-in-residence for the Charles Causley Trust 2022-25.

As a trustee (and previously Secretary for eleven years) of Suffolk Poetry Society I am actively involved in helping run their annual festival and other events; I have run poetry walks and a workshop for Poetry in Aldeburgh. I have also started writing an arts column for a local newspaper.

What inspires your poetry?
I see myself as an observer. Themes I have been writing about include family life in Sudan, conflict, the changing role of women, dementia, loss, nature, also working and living in different countries as part of my British Council career. I write a lot of poetry in response to visual arts and come from a distinguished Scottish family of artists.

When did you start writing poetry?
I wrote some poetry as a child, at university and then from time to time during my international career with the British Council. On retirement in 2014, I decided to devote my time to developing myself as a poet (having already self- published one pamphlet) and undertook the MA. I had always wanted to write more poetry and I kept this idea alive over the years by remembering and turning over in my mind one image I had written in university days – ‘pent winding ink’.

What made you decide to study on the MA in Writing Poetry?
I had met one of the tutors Tamar Yoseloff and was particularly interested in her knowledge of ekphrasis. I liked the emphasis on one’s development as a poet and the practicalities relating to publication etc. I knew Newcastle University, who accredit the Poetry School’s MA, to be a good university so this partnership made sense.

How has the MA in Writing Poetry impacted your life?
It has enabled me to create a second career for myself, helped grow my technical ability and confidence as well as improved my knowledge of poetry in general. I have made many new friends and I am sure it has helped me be successful in a number of opportunities I have pursued since graduating.

Charlie Brogan MA, Class of 2024

What have you been up to since you graduated?
Since I graduated I have signed with a literary agent, and have been working on my debut novel and first poetry collection. I have performed with Ella Frears and Liz Berry at an event organised by fellow Poetry School students and alumni, Ewan Monaghan of the Writing School and Joshua Hallam of Wordspace!
I’ve also worked on a visual poetry series, ran workshops, and will soon be teaching a series of poetry workshops on heartbreak and healing via my Substack.
Most importantly though, since graduating, I have considered myself ‘a poet’, whether published, performing, or not! I suppose a poet lens is another way of seeing that doesn’t leave you.

What sort of subjects do you cover in your poetry?
I generally write about girlhood and womanhood. In the book series ‘Look Again’ by the Tate, Claire Marie Healy quotes: Girlhood can be understood as less a prescribed length of time, more a way of seeing that never really leaves us.
I am fascinated by the ‘girlhood lens’. Poems of praise, fear, retribution, pure rage, envy, sex, friendship, ah! It all pours out when I see my womanhood and girlhood as a ‘way of seeing’.

Why and when did you start writing poetry?
I started writing poetry in my childhood diary; I must have been seven. I was trying to make sense of the world as an anxious child, and it came out in rhyme! I developed a serious obsession with poetry however, when I discovered Kim Addonizio as a teen. I didn’t have to try and write like Larkin, I could be fierce, sassy, and write about my observations as I moved through the world.

How did studying on the MA in Writing Poetry affect you and your work?
I walked into the classroom on the first day feeling like a fraud, and confused about my writing. I left with a renewed love for my work I didn’t know was possible, a penchant for a sonnet, and friends for life!

What made you choose to study the MA?
The first poetry class I ever took 12 years ago was at the Poetry School, and the obsession never waned.

Tell us about a particular moment on the course that has stayed with you.
Reading modern sonnets with Tamar Yoseloff. Genuinely life changing for me!

Follow Charlie on substack and on instagram.
See her visual poetry prints for sale on Etsy here.

Steph Morris MA, Class of 2017

When did you start writing poetry?
I first began writing poetry in the 2010s after a creative and emotional hiatus, seeking a new artform and new ways to articulate new experiences, perhaps more personally and on a different scale.

What inspires your poetry?
I write a lot about plants, my passion, and I respond to things going on in my life and the world around me, so it’s personal and political too. I take inspiration from other poets such as Kim Moore, Edwin Morgan or James Schuyler, but also from visual art and music, and my garden.

Have you had any publication successes that you would like to share with us?
I published a chapbook in 2020, Please don’t trample us; we are trying to grow! from Fair Acre Press. I did publish a collection of translated poems, by Austrian modernist Ilse Aichinger, and have had poems in magazines regularly, such as Under the Radar and The North.

What else have you been up to since you graduated?
I was longlisted for the National Poetry Prize and won the Live Canon Borough prize. I’ve been in a few anthologies too; recent highlights included Joy//Us from Arachne Press and Becoming from the Poetry Prescription series edited by Deb Alma. I was also a Royal Literary Fund fellow 2022-24 at Greenwich University which was an enriching experience, coaching students on their writing skills. I received a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England in 2021 to work on visual poetry, a ‘step change’ which would allow me to mix my visual art practice with my literary practice. I began making concrete/ visual poetry leading to an exhibition in 2023. I’ve also done some teaching myself since graduating, including a workshop for Poetry in Aldeburgh, where I also read.

How did studying on the MA in Writing Poetry affect your life?
The MA started me off on a lifetime’s journey of studying poetry, always reading more new poetry and poetry that is new to me, to see what I can learn from it, in the wider sense as well as technically, how it broadens my emotional life as well as teaching me approaches to writing.

Is there a particular moment on the course that affected your writing?
A class with the late, much-missed Roddy Lumsden on expanded ideas of what the sonnet could be, experimental, visual, sonnets in the loosest sense, led me eventually to produce my ‘visual pantoums’, some of which can be seen online in Mercurius Magazine. Roddy saw the Poetry School as having an ‘art-school ethos’ I didn’t need telling twice. I also learned about Pantoums on the MA.

Sarah Gibbons MA, Class of 2023

What have you been up to since you graduated?
I won the 2024 Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize for I Go to the Devil. I’ve been longlisted for the National Poetry Competition,  the Bridport Prize and the Rialto Poetry Competition, I’ve had work published in Mslexia, Under the Radar, And Other Poems and many other places.
With Lauren Thomas, (a fellow MA graduate) I started a poetry magazine called Black Iris , which publishes poetry and essays, and is going really well – we’re currently editing issue number four!

What inspires your poetry?
I try to write about things that tell me something about what it means to be human, and say something about the world we’re in now. The subjects of my work are pretty wide-ranging, from historical figures like Isobel Gowdie, to sex and family, political issues that make me angry, and currently, anything to do with sport.

What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve written a play based on my final portfolio from the MA and I’m currently working on a collection of poems about sport, from great or notorious sporting individuals to iconic sporting moments, to the role of sport and wellbeing cults in our lives. I strongly believe there needs to be more poetry about darts and cycling!

What impact has studying on the MA in Writing Poetry had on you?
Profoundly. It made me a much better poet, but it also made me a happier person. I made deep, lifelong friendships and I learned more about who I was and what kind of poet I needed to be to be happy.

Tell us about a significant moment on the course.
So many! All probably variants of me taking a poem I was struggling with to course tutor Glyn Maxwell, and him pointing to something on the page and saying: “It will be fine. You just need to do more of THIS.”

Kevin Scully MA, Class of 2024

Why and when did you start writing poetry?
As a child. I think my first poem was published (with payment) at the age of eight or nine! It’s been with me on and off ever since – like some medical conditions!

What sort of subjects do you like to write about?
God, sex and death, the holy trinity.

What have you been up to since you graduated?
I have picked up prizes in several poetry competitions, and had poems published in print and online journals and magazines. I have spent a long time working on Stations of the Cross (a Christian religious practice) and recently submitted this to publishers.

What is your main memory of the MA in Writing Poetry?
The camaraderie that flowed during sessions together. A real sense of common purpose, while respecting each person’s singular track.

Was there a particular moment in a workshop that affected your writing?
There was a ‘darling’, a favoured line which sank under the critique in the workshop. Deleting it improved the poem and it went on to publication.

How did studying on the MA in Writing Poetry affect your life and your poetry?
It reinvigorated me both in practice and personally. It was two of the happiest years of my life.