Having done bugger-all blogging in 2016, it feels a bit rich to be signing off for the year (what, you’re still around?! I thought you’d been ossified), but none the less, I am so doing. It’s been a funny one. Again. We had the Earthquake anthology, plus quite a few more big shakes. Takahē, and …
Oh, Canada!
One of the great perks of being a freelance creative writing teacher is that I get to read a load of books of poetry and claim that it’s work. And one of my favourite targets for this is (or possibly are – grammar?) the annual poetry anthology. I love anthologies. Especially this sort, which limit selection to …
Teaching poetry – Kate Clanchy article
I was recently sent a link to a gorgeous article in The Guardian written by Kate Clanchy: the story of The Very Quiet Foreign Girls poetry group. Having spent the weekend revisiting the deep pleasure of being a student (despite nearly dislocating myself trying not to butt in and teach over the top of poor …
You know those poems with amazing titles
that suggest anything could be about to happen, anything might lie hidden behind the words about to leap forth – the soldiers of syntax marshalled on parade, the magicians of imagination warming up their wands – but which, like the contents of a Fabergé egg or a politician’s promise or Don Juan’s trousers add the …
The Trouble with Teaching
Lets start with a quote from the late Terry Pratchett, that quite neatly sums this post up: Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs, and then you had the urge to pass it on.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather And there’s the problem. Since …
A Dark Feathered Art 