featured Articles
Catherine-Esther Cowie – T.S. Eliot Writers’ Notes
Welcome to our Writers’ Notes for the 2025 T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist. These are educational resources for poets looking to develop their practice and learn from some of contemporary poetry’s most exciting and accomplished voices. Here’s Catherine-Esther Cowie on her collection Heirloom. A Break from Words During the height of Covid-19, I had just finished my MFA…
Catherine-Esther Cowie
Translation as Creative Writing
As part of our Poetry Craft series, Steve Komarnyckyj discusses the craft of translation in creative writing. Do you think every act of writing is a kind of translation? We are all translators. Everything we do is an act of translation. Our brains interpret the sensory data flooding our perceptions. Each of us inhabits a world that we have “translated“…
Steve Komarnyckyj
How to Write About Your Family
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry and its place in their world. These interviews will cover creative writing tips, excelling in a poetry workshop, building a literary career, and finding your poetic voice. Here’s Kit Griffiths on how to write about your family. When you start writing about your family, what’s the…
kit griffiths
Nick Makoha – T.S. Eliot Writers’ Notes
Welcome to our Writers’ Notes for the 2025 T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist. These are educational resources for poets looking to develop their practice and learn from some of contemporary poetry’s most exciting and accomplished voices. Here’s Nick Makoha on his collection The New Carthaginians. Blurring the Boundary Esther Kondo Heller said The New Carthaginians breaks the conventions…
Nick Makoha
Queer Ecology in Translation: Tim Tim Cheng reviews ‘for now I am sitting here growing transparent’ by Yau Ching, translated by Chenxin Jiang
Tim Tim Cheng explores a world where endings and beginnings are inseparable in Yau Ching’s for now I am sitting here growing transparent (Zephyr Press, 2025). Bilingual books curate a space of generosity. Placing work in the source language and target language side by side invites cross-cultural exchange. While monolingual readers must navigate unfamiliar sightlines,…
Tim Tim Cheng
Carol Watts – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Carol Watts on her collection Mimic Pond. I’ve written poetry as far back as I can remember….
Carol Watts
Katrina Porteous – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Katrina Porteous on her collection Rhizodont. Networks of Nature Communities and Commissions I did not set out…
Katrina Porteous
Eliza O’Toole – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Eliza O’Toole on her collection A Cranic of Ordinaries. Writing as the tip of the iceberg How…
Eliza O'Toole
JR Carpenter – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s JR Carpenter on their collection Measures of Weather. How and where do you write? Do you have…
J. R. Carpenter
Judith Beveridge – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface
Welcome to our Below the Surface series for the 2025 Laurel Prize finalists. These pieces shine a light on the creative practice behind these outstanding collections and show how nature and the climate crisis impacted the authors’ processes. Here’s Judith Beveridge on her collection Tintinnabulum. I always write at home in a garage that I have…
Judith Beveridge
Writing After Rimbaud: How Reading the Greats Can Transform Your Poetry
Stav Poleg discusses how to take inspiration and influence from iconic writers such as Rimbaud and use it to elevate your own poetic craft. What drew you to writing in response to other poets’ work? Do you remember the first time you tried it? I’ve always considered the practice of writing as simultaneously an act…
Stav Poleg
Beyond Representation: Supporting Global Majority Writers in a Demanding Literary Landscape
As part of our Poetry Craft series, Louisa Adjoa Parker discusses how to support global majority writers in a demanding literary landscape through poetry. What are some craft strategies you use to elevate personal or political content into work that also speaks artistically or universally? I am very much what I describe as an ‘intuitive…
Louisa Adjoa Parker
CLIMATE POETRY: Kate Simpson and James Ford, ‘Adaptation Gap’
Poets have long used their craft to reframe issues, convey emotion and share ideas, and climate change is an increasing feature of poetry shared across the world. To mark the launch of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures last year, our partners, the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, paired University of Leeds poets with Priestley Centre climate…
Poetry School
Five Women Poets You Should Be Reading Right Now
Clare Pollard who teaches our popular course Learning from Female Poets recommends her top five women poets you should be reading right now. 1. One contemporary woman poet. I’m reading Diane Seuss’ Modern Poetry at the moment and absolutely loving it. It’s the sort of poetry that makes me jealous. I read a couple of…
Clare Pollard
How to: Feedback, Originality, & Ownership in Poetry Workshops with Matthew Caley (part 2)
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry and its place in their world. These interviews will cover creative writing tips, excelling in a poetry workshop, building a literary career, and finding your poetic voice. Here’s part 2 of Matthew Caley discussing feedback, originality & ownership in workshops. You can read part 1 of…
Matthew Caley CLIMATE POETRY: Matt Howard and Dr Katie Wright, ‘Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air, 1775’
Poets have long used their craft to reframe issues, convey emotion and share ideas, and climate change is an increasing feature of poetry shared across the world. To mark the launch of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures last year, our partners, the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, paired University of Leeds poets with Priestley Centre climate…
Poetry School
CLIMATE POETRY: John Whale and Lone Sorenson, ‘Jizz’
Poets have long used their craft to reframe issues, convey emotion and share ideas, and climate change is an increasing feature of poetry shared across the world. To mark the launch of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures last year, our partners, the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, paired University of Leeds poets with Priestley Centre climate…
Poetry School
Poetry Queries: Can Poetry Be Taught? with lisa minerva luxx
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry queries. Here’s lisa minerva luxx discussing the idea of whether poetry can be taught.
lisa minerva luxx How to: Feedback, Originality, & Ownership in Poetry Workshops with Matthew Caley (part 1)
Matthew Caley discusses the emotional aspect of receiving feedback.
Matthew Caley
Poetry Queries: Can Poetry Be Taught? with Giulia Ottavia Frattini
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry queries. Here’s Giulia Ottavia Frattini discussing the idea of whether poetry can be taught.
Giulia Ottavia Frattini
Poetry Craft: My Favourite Poetic Device with Simon Barraclough
Simon Barraclough discusses his favourite poetic device.
Simon Barraclough
Poetry Queries: Can Poetry Be Taught? with Sascha Akhtar
In this series, we interview our tutors about poetry queries. Here’s Sascha Akhtar discussing the idea of whether poetry can be taught.
Sascha Akhtar
Poetry Craft: My Favourite Poetic Device with Eve Grubin
Eve Grubin discusses her favourite poetic device.
Eve Grubin
More love poems? Really?
‘Love’ must be one of the most overused words in the English language. So much ‘love poetry’ has been written over the course of human experience, that it might be reasonable to ask – why bother adding to the literature of love poetry? Is there anything more to say? I think there’s lots more to…
Catherine Smith
Stanzas for Ukraine – 7
The Poet’s Nose by Serhii Rybnytskyi, translated from the Ukrainian by Stephen Komarnyckyj With what part of the body can I reflect on matters as a poet? My nose, which for me it is practically an ‘Achilles Heel’. Any blow can knock me down, the slightest cold or drop in blood pressure clogs my nostrils….
Serhii Rybnytskyi