Busy spring into summer!

It’s been a warm and busy time recently and I’m looking forward to a few days off to see my old mum this weekend in Wales. Recently, I’ve been working with Sheffield Poet Laurate and Hive young poet, Warda Yassin on a Poetry Society Project. We had a glorious weekend at Victoria Quays in Sheffield and at Swinton Lock on a narrowboat delivering poetry workshops. For the boat trip, we took young poets who had never been on a boat before (and one hadn’t been on the train so it was a double first!), and at the Quays it was a lovely mix of poets and people who’d never written before. The aim of the workshops was to engage people with our wonderful canals, and to get them writing poetry, of course. Warda will be writing a poem, taking inspiration from the work produced in the workshops, to be featured on a wall between the Sheffield and Tinsley stretch of canal later this year. Can’t wait!

I’ve also been hard at work with Zoe Brigley working as a contributing editor on the Summer issue of Poetry Wales. We’re so proud of it! It’s a really humbling experience being on the other side of magazine submissions. I really struggled with writing rejections for one thing. There were so many poems I wished I could take but there wasn’t the room. On the brighter side, it’s been so lovely to showcase a lovely range of poets in the issue.

I hope wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you are well and there is sun!