Arts Council DYCP

From May 2021-May 2022 I was funded by Arts Council England as part of the Developing Your Creative Practice fund for A Year’s Immersion in Poetry.

Arts Council England logo

I was able to spend a whole year of dedicated time exploring my practice as a poet – how do I do it? when? where? why and for whom? what do I have to say? – with support from my mentor, playwright Anita Karla Kelly, and with creative facilitation from Holly Stoppit. Massive thanks to both of them.

I am incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity. It has fundamentally changed my practice from being someone interested in seeing if maybe I liked writing poetry… a bit, to someone who is proud to call myself a Proper Poet.

As part of this project I committed to writing a poem a day, expecting to fail in the attempt. So far I have missed only one day, and have produced nearly one thousand daily poems.
Find them all on Instagram at @FridayIsPoetsDay.

Workshops with Anita Karla Kelly

I am massively grateful to Anita, who was my poetry mentor for my DYCP. I asked her to mentor me having attended a series of her creative writing workshops and courses from 2018-2020, including a poetry workshop in 2019 where the seeds of my love of poetry were sown. Her talent at writing – she is a poet, writer, playwright – her skilled teaching, and her down to earth style inspire me, help me to believe in myself and make me want to strive for more.

Anita’s website.

Courses & workshops

To support my creative practice I undertook the following courses and workshops:

Open mics

During my DYCP I first dipped my toe into Bristol’s spoken word and poetry open mic scene. It is a wonderful, welcoming place. Especial thanks to Tonic and Time of the Month for their support.