Face to face

I lecture in creative writing at Liverpool John Moores University and tutor for the Taliesin Trust at Ty Newydd and for The Arvon Foundation. I have published three collections of poetry, most recently Joking Apart (2004, The Collective Press) to excellent reviews. I was Course-Leader for Creative Writing for the Open College of the Arts and an English teacher in several comprehensive schools. I love teaching in a variety of different settings and find that the exchange of views and responses, whether between myself and people approximately my age or between me and teenagers in a school feeds my enthusiasm for writing. I like writing which is honest and, to use Peter Sansom's word 'authentic', writing which is not striving to be 'poetic' but is striving to communicate an experience, thought or feeling through heightened, perfectly-chosen language. My writing is rooted in reality but, I hope, its sequins catch the light. Three collections of poetry: The Magician's Assistant (Flambard Press 1994) Unsuitable Shoes (The Collective Press, Wales 1999) Joking Apart (The Collective Press, Wales 2004) Anthologies including The Honey Gatherers ed. Maura Dooley (Bloodaxe 2003) Out of Fashion ed. Carol Ann Duffy (Faber 2004) Public Art:Text on a Water Wall in Blaise Park, Bristol. Poetry broadcast on radio in Britain and Australia. Readings include Ledbury, Bristol, and Aldeburgh Poetry Festivals and The Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Southbank Centre, London, Balliol College, Oxford.