How I Did It
How I Did It: Karen McCarthy Woolf
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2026 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their book. Here’s Karen McCarthy Woolf on what inspired her to write the extract from page 44 of her poetry…
Karen McCarthy Woolf
How I Did It: Tishani Doshi
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2026 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their book. Here’s Tishani Doshi on what inspired her to write the title poem from Egrets, While War. Read the…
Tishani Doshi
How I Did It: Caroline Smith
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2026 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their book. Here’s Caroline Smith on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Removal’ in Bycatch. Read the full poem…
Caroline Smith
How I Did It: Keith Jarrett
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2026 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their book. Here’s Keith Jarrett on what inspired him to write the poem ‘islands [a cobra in the cockpit]’ in…
Keith Jarrett
How I Did It: Sarah Howe
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2026 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their book. Here’s Sarah Howe on what inspired her to write the poem ‘A History of my Relationship with my…
Sarah Howe
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Michael Mullen on ‘Beithir’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Michael Mullen on what inspired them to write the poem ‘Beithir’ in Goonie. Any writer of Scots –…
Michael Mullen
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Sarah Ghazal Ali on ‘Magdalene Diptych’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Sarah Ghazal Ali on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Magdalene Diptych’ in Theophanies. Magdalene at a…
Sarah Ghazal Ali
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Desree on ‘Intruders’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Desree on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Intruders’ in Altar. The Prompt The first version of…
Desree
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Isabelle Baafi on ‘Piggy’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Isabelle Baafi on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Piggy’ in Chaotic Good. PIGGY From Horror The…
Isabelle Baafi
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Catherine-Esther Cowie on ‘Mimorian’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2025 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Catherine-Esther Cowie on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Mimorian’ in Heirloom. In Another Language ‘Mimorian’ is…
Catherine-Esther Cowie
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Charlotte Shevchenko Knight on ‘Food for the Dead’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2024 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Charlotte Shevchenko Knight on what inspired her to write the poem ‘life & no escape’ in Food for…
Charlotte Shevchenko Knight
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Marjorie Lotfi on ‘The Wrong Person to Ask’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2024 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Marjorie Lotfi on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Picture of Girl and Small Boy’ in…
Marjorie Lotfi
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Jasmine Cooray on ‘Inheritance’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2024 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Jasmine Cooray on what inspired her to write the poem ‘The Well’ in Inheritance. Early Drafts Initially…
Jasmine Cooray
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Kelly Michels on ‘American Anthem’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2024 ’How I Did It’ series. This year we asked poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind one of the poems from their chosen collection. Here’s Kelly Michels on what inspired her to write the poem ‘Hurricane Season in Virginia Beach’ from American…
Kelly Michels
Momtaza Mehri – How I Did It ‘A Few Facts We Hesitantly Know to Be Somewhat True’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind their collection. Here’s Momtaza Mehri on what inspired her to write Bad Diaspora Poems. This was one of a series of poems I…
Momtaza Mehri
HOW I DID IT – Zena Edwards ‘HUMAN: THIS EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Performed) to write about the inspiration behind their poem. Here’s Zena Edwards on what inspired her to write ‘Human : This Embodied Knowledge’. This piece has always wanted to…
Zena Edwards
Eric Yip – How I Did It ‘Fricatives’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Written) to write about the inspiration behind their poem. Here’s Eric Yip on what inspired him to write ‘Frictatives.’ Thinking about a poem after having written it feels like…
Eric Yip
Kandace Siobhan Walker – How I Did It ‘Cowboy’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the inspiration behind the poems in their collection. Here’s Kandace Siobhan Walker on what inspired her to write Cowboy. When I was editing Cowboy, I was…
Kandace Siobhan Walker
Kathryn Bevis – How I Did It ‘My body tells me that she’s filing for divorce’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Written) to write about the inspiration behind their chosen poem. Here’s Kathryn Bevis on what inspired her to write ‘My body tells me that she’s filing for divorce.’ On…
Kathryn Bevis
Michael Pedersen – How I Did It ‘The Cat Prince’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Performed) to write about the inspiration behind some of their poems from the chosen collection. Here’s Michael Pedersen on what inspired him to write ‘The Cat Prince‘. ‘The Cat…
Michael Pedersen
Jane Clarke – How I Did It ‘Pit Ponies of Glendasan’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind some of their poems from the chosen collection. Here’s Jane Clarke on what inspired her to write A Change in the Air. On a…
Jane Clarke
Kit Fan – How I Did It ‘2047: A Hong Kong Space Odyssey’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind some of their poems from the chosen collection. Here’s Kit on what inspired him to write The Ink Cloud Reader. My Hong Kong childhood…
Kit Fan
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Elisabeth Sennitt Clough on ‘My Name is Abilene’
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2023 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration behind some of their poems from the chosen collection. Here’s Elisabeth Sennitt Clough on what inspired her to write My Name is Abilene. My Name…
Elisabeth Sennitt Clough
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Holly Pester on Comic Timing
Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2021 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to explain the writing process behind one of the poems in their collections. In this piece, Holly Pester talks about ‘Comic Timing’ from her collection of the same…
Poetry School
How I Did It: Forward Prizes – Alice Hiller on Bird of Winter
Content warning: Please note that this piece includes discussion of sexual abuse which some readers may find upsetting. Welcome to our Forward Prizes 2021 ‘How I Did It’ series. This year we asked the poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to explain the writing process behind one of the poems…
Poetry School