How I Did It
How I Did It: Michael Marks Award Special – Alyson Hallett on ‘crossing the sound’
Ahead of the Awards ceremony on Thursday 12th December, The Poetry School has asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets to discuss the writing process behind a poem from their award-nominated work. So far, Theophilus Kwek, Charlotte Wetton, Phoebe Stuckes and Omikemi Natacha Bryan have talked about their poems. In today’s final instalment –…
Alyson Hallett
How I Did It: Michael Marks Award Special – Omikemi Natacha Bryan on ‘Salt’
Ahead of the Awards ceremony on Thursday 12th December, The Poetry School has asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets to discuss the writing process behind a poem from their award-nominated work. So far, Theophilus Kwek, Charlotte Wetton, and Phoebe Stuckes have talked about their poems; today, Omikemi…
Omikemi Natacha Bryan
How I Did It: Michael Marks Award Special – Phoebe Stuckes on ‘Mad Chicks Cool’
Ahead of the Awards ceremony on Thursday 12th December, The Poetry School has asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets to discuss the writing process behind a poem from their award-nominated work. So far, Theophilus Kwek and Charlotte Wetton have talked about their poems; today, Phoebe Stuckes shares the inspiration behind…
Phoebe Stuckes
How I Did It: Michael Marks Award Special – Charlotte Wetton on ‘The Archivist’s House’
Ahead of the Awards ceremony on Thursday 12th December, The Poetry School has asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets to discuss the writing process behind a poem from their award-nominated work. Yesterday, Theophilus Kwek wrote about his poem, ‘The Crossing’; today, Charlotte Wetton talks us through her poem ‘The Archivist’s…
Charlotte Wetton
How I Did It: Michael Marks Award Special – Theophilus Kwek on ‘The Crossing’
Ahead of the Awards ceremony on Thursday 12th December, The Poetry School has asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets to discuss the writing process behind a poem from their award-nominated work. First in the series, Theophilus Kwek writes about his poem, ‘The Crossing’. Easter 2015. I am walking with…
Theophilus Kwek
How I Did It: Forward First Collection Special – Ocean Vuong on ‘Seventh Circle of Earth’
The Poetry School asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the process behind their award-nominated work. Over the weeks leading up to the award ceremony on 21st September, we’ve published ‘How I Did It’ articles by Maria Apichella, Nick Makoha, Eric Langley, and Richard Georges. In this final instalment, on the day of…
Ocean Vuong
How I Did It: Forward First Collection Special: Richard Georges on ‘Griot’
We’ve asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the process behind their award-nominated work. Over the weeks leading up to the award ceremony on 21st September, look out for ‘How I Did It’ articles from Maria Apichella, Nick Makoha, Eric Langley, Richard Georges and Ocean Vuong. This week, Richard Georges discusses…
Richard Georges
How I Did It: Forward First Collection Special – Eric Langley on ‘Glanced’
We’ve asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the process behind their award-nominated work. Over the weeks leading up to the award ceremony on 21st September, look out for ‘How I Did It’ articles from Maria Apichella, Nick Makoha, Richard Georges and Ocean Vuong. This week, Eric Langley discusses his…
Eric Langley
How I Did It: Forward First Collection Special – Nick Makoha on ‘Kingdom of Gravity’
We’ve asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the process behind their award-nominated work. Over the weeks leading up to the award ceremony on 21st September, look out for ‘How I Did It’ articles from Maria Apichella, Richard Georges, Eric Langley and Ocean Vuong. But this week it’s Nick…
Nick Makoha
How I Did It: Forward First Collection Special – Maria Apichella on ‘Psalmody’
As is Poetry School tradition, we’ve asked the five poets shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection to write about the process behind their award-nominated work. Over the weeks leading up to the award ceremony on 21st September, look out for ‘How I Did It’ articles from Nick Makoha, Richard Georges, Eric…
Maria Apichella
How I Did It: Eric Gregory Award Special – Daisy Lafarge on ‘understudies for air’
Welcome to the final instalment of our Eric Gregory Award 2017 ‘How I Did It’ series. We asked the winners of this year’s awards to explain the process their award-winning poems. Last up is Daisy Lafarge talking about her pamphlet, understudies for air – published August 2017. The Eric Gregory Awards 2018 will open for…
Daisy Lafarge
How I Did It: Eric Gregory Award Special – Rachael Allen on ‘Many Bird Roast’
Welcome to this ‘How I Did It’ series featuring the winners of the Eric Gregory Award 2017. We’ve asked each excellent young poet to explain the process behind their award-winning writing. Here, Rachael Allen talks about one of the recurring themes in her work. The Eric Gregory Awards 2018 will be open for entries in…
Rachael Allen
How I Did It: Eric Gregory Award Special – Mark Pajak on ‘Spitting Distance’
Welcome to the second instalment of our Eric Gregory Award 2017 ‘How I Did It’ series. We asked the winners of this year’s awards to explain the process their award-winning poems. Here, Mark Pajak talks about the hard work that went into his pamphlet, Spitting Distance. The Eric Gregory Awards 2018 will open for entries…
Mark Pajak
How I Did It – Eric Gregory Award Special: Richard O’Brien on ‘4 Rue Sarrazin’
Welcome to the first instalment of our Eric Gregory Award 2017 ‘How I Did It’ series. We asked the winners of this year’s awards to explain the process behind one of their award-winning poems. First up, Richard O’Brien writes about ‘4 Rue Sarrazin’. The Eric Gregory Awards 2018 will open for entries in September. …
Richard O'Brien
How I Did It – Primers Volume Two: Marvin Thompson on ‘What are your thoughts on comedians using the N word?’
What are your thoughts on comedians using the N word? from ‘An Interview with Comedy Genius Olivier Welsh’ There’s a documentary with only nine views that explains how the N-word spawned from a need to dehumanise people of a dark hue so cotton profits would feel less like greed or sin. The word’s history is…
Marvin Thompson
How I Did It – Primers Volume Two: Ben Bransfield on ‘And to this day’
And to this day there’s a well down those woods that feeds off tales of stay aways. By nine our heads were knitted with them: fireside legends, the edges of seats. Chewing our nails, twisting our hair, we’d conker scout the outer trees but soon slip deeper to a cooler place, that well of stone….
Ben Bransfield
How I Did It – Primers Volume Two: Cynthia Miller on ‘Yellow’
At the Verve Poetry Festival headline on Saturday, Helen Mort, Kayo Chingonyi and Sarah Howe were on a panel discussing their poetry and themes of home and belonging. Sarah remarked that “poetry gave her a background”. I remember being in the audience and having an almost visceral reaction to that comment, with my whole body…
Cynthia Miller
How I Did It – Ted Hughes Award: Salena Godden on ‘LIVEwire’
In the fifth instalment of our Ted Hughes Award ‘How I Did It’ series, Salena Godden explains the creative process behind ‘Can’t Be Bovvered’‘ from her shortlisted work LIVEwire. ‘LIVEwire‘ marks Salena Godden’s first album in nearly a decade, and is a compilation of live and studio recordings, archives and brand new work. It features live material from…
Salena Godden
How I Did It – Ted Hughes Award: Caroline Smith on The Immigration Handbook
In the fourth instalment of our Ted Hughes Award ‘How I Did It’ series, Caroline Smith explains the creative process behind ‘The Scarlet Lizard’ from her shortlisted work The Immigration Handbook. Caroline Smith’s The Immigration Handbook is the fruit of her career as an Immigration Caseworker for one of the most diverse inner-city areas in London. Immigrants’ dramatic emotions,…
Caroline Smith
How I Did It – Ted Hughes Award: Jay Bernard on ‘The Red and Yellow Nothing’
In the next instalment of our Ted Hughes Award ‘How I Did It’ series, Jay Bernard explains the many inspirations behind their shortlisted pamphlet, The Red and Yellow Nothing, published by Ink, Sweat & Tears Press. The Red and Yellow Nothing is written as a prequel to the Arthurian tale of Sir Morien – a young knight described as…
Jay Bernard
How I Did It – Ted Hughes Award: Will Eaves on ‘The Inevitable Gift Shop’
In the second instalment of our Ted Hughes Award ‘How I Did It’ series, Will Eaves explains the creative process behind ‘The Lord Is Listenin’ To Ya, Hallelujah’ from his shortlisted work The Inevitable Gift Shop. A memoir by other means, The Inevitable Gift Shop lassoes consciousness, memory, desire, literature, illness, flora and fauna, problems with tortoises…
Will Eaves
How I Did It – Ted Hughes Award: Harry Man on ‘Finders Keepers’
In this first instalment of our Ted Hughes Award ‘How I Did It’ series, Harry Man explains the creative process behind his shortlisted work, Finders Keepers, created in collaboration with illustrator Sophie Gainsley. Finders Keepers is a collaboration between poet Harry Man and artist and illustrator Sophie Gainsley that examines Britain’s vanishing wildlife. Poems from the project…
Harry Man
How I Did It – Michael Marks Edition – Richard Scott on ‘cover-boys’
If I am honest, I don’t really know how I did it, wrote cover-boys that is; but there’s something powerful about acknowledging the underlying mystery of poetry right from the get-go, what Whitman calls the ‘unseen hand’; that despite how much you learn and craft there is a subconscious ticking away beneath all the work…
Richard Scott
How I Did It – Michael Marks Edition: Polly Clark ‘Tiger, Tiger’
‘Tiger, Tiger’ from my pamphlet A Handbook for the Afterlife is my longest and perhaps most ambitious poem, abandoning the strict notions I held of what a poem is or can be. For a long time it was in my head rather than on the page as a draft because the idea of it –…
Polly Clark
How I Did It – Michael Marks Edition: Lizzi Thistlethwayte ‘lovesong’
I am aware of an emotional landscape rooted within a geographical one that may bear no outward resemblance to a particular place; merely that there are echoes, reference points. I recognize something. I know I need to pin it down. By ‘pinning it down’ I mean trying to understand by exploring different ways of ‘seeing’;…
Lizzi Thistlethwayte