Our teaching is handled by our ever-changing faculty of freelance poets. Information about our poetry tutors can be found on the courses they teach. For general enquiries please email [email protected].
Isy is our Artistic Director and Joint CEO. She has 12 years’ experience as Head of Learning in literary museums, The Story Museum in Oxford and the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. She has been a Trustee of Jane Austen’s House Museum since 2022. She is also a freelance storyteller and literacy consultant, working regularly with Said Business School, the National Literacy Trust, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Museum of Gloucester, Bristol Museums and Wroclaw-based Bring Teaching to Life. Isy grew up in Cambridge, and holds a Master’s in History of Art from the University of York. She is currently studying for a second BA in French and Spanish in her part time through Open University. A secondary English teacher in Ilford through Teach First, she spent two years living in a rural area of Rwanda with Voluntary Service Overseas, an experience which informs her poetry pamphlet with Live Canon, Dear Rwanda (2023).
Lusungu Chikamata – Finance & Operations DirectorLusungu is our Finance & Operations Director. He brings over 10 years’ experience in finance and operations in the start-up sector and most recently at First Story, England’s leading creative writing charity for young people. He has a passion for collaboration, developing and implementing strategic business functions and charities that provide meaningful creative education.
Andrew Parkes – Head of ProgrammesAndy is our Head of Programmes. He programmes our in-person, video, and online courses. Andy has a BA in Media & Modern Literature and an MA in Modern Literary Theory, both from Goldsmiths, University of London. He founded the independent poetry press clinic in 2009.
Jasmine Ward is our Marketing Manager and Laurel Prize Manager; she’s in charge of submissions and social media platforms. Jasmine previously managed the Betjeman Poetry Prize, a prize designed to spark creativity in early adolescents. She also has a history in PR and events. When she isn’t working on Laurel she is a freelance writer (specialising in satire), as well as a copywriter and artist.
Tessa is our MA in Writing Poetry Manager. She is also a poet and her three collections, Chalet Between Thick Ears, What Sort of Bird are You? and Try to Find Me are published with Live Canon. She has also been published in several poetry magazines and prize anthologies and performed her poetry across the UK. Tessa has taught as a university tutor of performance poetry, as a leader of therapeutic poetry-writing groups, and as a facilitator of poetry performance workshops.
Beth is our Programmes & Website Administrator. She has a BA in English Literature from Newcastle University and is passionate about live music, independent films and creative writing. She has previously worked for the charity Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books and has a history of working in administration at the Emmerdale Studio Experience.
Hannah Etim-Gorst – ChairHannah Etim-Gorst studied history at Warwick University and the University of Connecticut, during which time she was a UNESCO youth ambassador. Hannah has also studied art history at The Courtauld. She is a practising solicitor and has been on the board of trustees of the Poetry School for over a year.
In Hannah’s spare time, she loves theatre and dance, having trained in both for over 10 years. Hannah has appeared on stage (in both the UK and USA), in television and film, and will give 10 points to anyone who can spot her ‘starring’ in Harry Potter or Casualty!
Chris Brown OBE DL – Vice ChairChris Brown worked in engineering companies for most of his career and was Chief Executive of David Brown Group plc from 1990 to 1999. He has degrees in Law, Philosophy, History and Business Administration, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Huddersfield.
He was Chair of the governing body of the University of Huddersfield from 2004 to 2019, and was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to higher education. He is also High Sheriff of West Yorkshire.
Jon Sharples – TrusteeJon Sharples practises as a qualified solicitor specialising in intellectual property and art law, and is on the board of Block 336 in Brixton.
Richard Forsdyke is a partner in the real estate group at international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, where he has 20 years’ experience in advising on major property developers, landlords and local authorities. He holds an M.A. in Philosophy & Law from Cambridge (Robinson College) and an M.Sc. in Politics from the LSE. His politics Master’s thesis was published as “After The Landslide” by the Centre for Policy Studies, where he served as a research fellow. He is a former trustee of The Pavement Poetry Trust and has undertaken courses at Poetry School. He plays rock drums to a low standard and also cures & smokes his own bacon.
Helen Taylor – TrusteeHelen Taylor (BA Hons Cantab) was Literature Officer for Cambridgeshire County Council for 9 years and is now a Literature Consultant and works for Carol Ann Duffy the Poet Laureate as PA and Laureate Project Coordinator. Helen taught in secondary schools for five years before becoming Head of Education at The Poetry Society. She has taught on the University of Cambridge’s MA in Children’s Literature and the PGCE course at the University of Cambridge. She has been a director of two Poetry Festivals and is now on the programming committee of the Cambridge Literary Festival. She has also worked for Cambridge City Council as Community Arts Liaison Officer and founded her own company The Voices Project, which developed and delivered creative projects in the community for local authorities and museums. Helen initiated and project managed the year long Poetry and Museums Project ‘Thresholds’ curated by the Poet Laureate which involved 10 poets in residence in 10 University of Cambridge museums and collections working with young people and writing new poems.
Katie Colombus is the author of How to Listen and Pathways (Hachette) and is a published poet with a distinction from the MA in Writing Poetry at The Poetry School, London. She creates interdisciplinary work with dancers and musicians and has written libretto for contemporary opera. Katie has an extensive background in arts and wellbeing journalism having written for The Telegraph, The i, Good Housekeeping, The Stage Newspaper, The Dancing Times and Dance Theatre Journals amongst others. She was the recipient of the Chris De Marigny Dance Writers Award and Lisa Ullman Travelling Scholarship for arts writing and was a Gary Parks Scholar for the Critics Association. She was also chosen to take part in a British Council young arts writers international exchange with young writers from the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Pakistan.
We currently do not have any vacancies available – however if you are interested in joining the Poetry School please keep an eye on our website for the latest news and updates.