Children's Poetry Summit

Teresa Cremin: Writing Poetry for Pleasure

Well… do you? Write poetry for pleasure that is?

Of course, for the myriad published poets who regularly read this blog, writing poetry for pleasure – by that I mean because they choose to – may be a weekly, even daily occurrence, a normal part of living and expressing themselves artistically. For the many teachers amongst us like me, it may be a less common practice. I know I read far more poetry than I write.

In the UK, reading for pleasure is recognised and supported in schools, but writing for pleasure is neither mandated nor commonly profiled. Worryingly, in 2023 the National Literacy Trust survey suggests that just 34.6% of our 8–18-year-olds enjoy writing in their own time. We know less about children’s recreational writing than their reading; there are far fewer research studies that focus on young people’s self-chosen writing than on their reading for pleasure. Within these studies, relatively few attend to poetry.

Nonetheless, in a recent research project funded by the Mercers Company (2020-2023), our OU team did find commonalities in approaches that enrich children’s pleasure in reading and writing. We combined an extensive research review with data from six London-based literacy charities committed to this agenda and created a Framework for Practice. This offers a research-informed basis for practice in homes, schools, libraries, online literacy spaces and local communities.

*Reading and Writing for Pleasure Framework for Practice* *(Cremin, Hendry, Chamberlain and Hulston, 2024)*

The Framework indicates that how children and young people perceive themselves as writers/poets – their writer identities – influence their motivation and desire to write recreationally, and that teachers and other adults frame what counts as ‘good’ writing or indeed ‘good’ poetry in particular contexts. When adults set time aside for children to regularly ‘just write’ this is evidenced to be valuable, enabling the young to explore possibilities and generate ideas that may be revisited and refined for publication. Essentially, the Framework highlights the value of individual and socially oriented approaches to supporting recreational writing and the role of the responsive adult.

Individually oriented approaches underscore the value of offering autonomy, choice and agency. Young people deserve to find their voices as poets by being introduced to a range of poetic voices and different forms from which they can choose for their own purposes. The evidence shows that to nurture their enjoyment and self-efficacy as writers, children need to be allowed to exercise their rights as writers and to work with adults who get to know their interests and passions and help them find subjects and forms that resonate personally and that they want to explore.

Socially oriented approaches stress the value of rich opportunities for informal interaction about writing and being a writer. The chance to write alongside others in a writing community that is inclusive and non-hierarchical is seen to support young writers and help them build positive writer identities. The Framework also emphasises the impact of affirmative feedback as well as sharing and publishing writing. With poetry this may involve the publication of class/school poetry anthologies, online recordings, poetry slams and performances, all of which offer audiences, within and beyond the classroom.

The Framework shows that young people’s engagement as writers, individually and collectively, is mediated and motivated by attuned and responsive adult involvement. Adult writing role models are recognised as significant; they positively influence young people’s engagement in volitional writing – as indeed many poets and teachers can attest.

So, if you are working to enable young people to find pleasure in writing poetry – delight in word play, enjoyment in exploring life issues and satisfaction in voicing their thoughts in verse – you may wish to ponder on the Framework and use it to affirm, celebrate, and even develop your practice.

For more information, see the Reading and Writing for Pleasure Framework for Practice

Teresa Cremin

Teresa is Professor of Education (Literacy) at the Open University. An advocate of developing teachers’ creative artistry, Teresa’s research focuses on teachers’ and children’s literate identities and practices. Her edited collection is Reading Teachers: Nurturing reading for pleasure (with Helen Hendry, Lucy Rodriguez Leon, Natalia Kucirkova, 24 teachers and 8 colleagues). Teaching English Creatively is in 3^rd edition (both Routledge).

Teresa is passionate about developing readers for life and leads a professional user-community website based on her research into volitional reading. The OU team support 100+ OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading Groups annually, 36 HEI partnerships and lead the OU Reading Schools Programme: Building a Culture of Reading to develop children’s and teachers’ pleasure in reading.

@TeresaCremin

Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, CLiPPA Poetry Award

Andrea Reece: Happy 21st Birthday, CLiPPA!

The shortlist for the 2024 CLiPPA, CLPE Children’s Poetry Award, was announced on 8 May at a special live online event watched by excited classes of children across the country. With the announcement of the shortlist of course, the CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme opens too. It’s a thrill that the CLiPPA and the Shadowing are such a fixture on the school calendar, and what better way to enrich the curriculum and provide a quality arts experience than by exploring the best new poetry for children, enabling young people to find poems that speak to them, and to take that poem to their hearts. (On that note, see also Poetry By Heart, which has just announced the highest participation levels ever with 3,030 videoed poetry performances submitted).

So what are the collections that teachers and children will be exploring through the CLiPPA Shadowing this year? This is the 21st anniversary year of the CLiPPA, and children’s poetry is thriving. From record submissions, the judges, led by award-winning poet Liz Berry, have chosen a particularly exciting shortlist, featuring outstanding new collections from both a past winner and frequently shortlisted poet; an anthology exploring the world of feelings; poems describing the everyday lives of young siblings in Guatemala, translated from Spanish; and an emotionally intense collection drawing on the poet’s experience as a wheelchair user.

Here are five brilliant and very different books to enchant and transport young readers, listeners and dreamers’ says Liz Berry. ‘Each book on the shortlist is unique and offers something special: there are poems full of feeling, poems to make us laugh and dance, poems to help us see into the hearts and lives of others and feel changed.

The five books are (by suggested reading age):

A Dinosaur at the Bus Stop by Kate Wakeling, illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon, Otter-Barry Books

This is a typically witty and captivating collection by a poet who won the CLiPPA with her collection Moon Juice and was shortlisted in 2022 with Cloud Soup. Using the simplest vocabulary, these musical poems celebrate imagination and the world’s variousness and encourage readers and listeners to do the same. The judges loved its ‘performability’ and the way the poet invites children to participate.

My Heart is a Poem, by various poets, various illustrators, Little Tiger Press

There are contemporary classics and brand-new poems in My Heart is a Poem which features poems by 20 different poets, including past CLiPPA winners John Agard, Valerie Bloom, Joseph Coelho and Karl Nova, as well as stars from the US and exciting new voices. The poems explore the world of feelings, from the depth of sadness to the heights of joy and everywhere in between. The judges loved the way it explores children’s emotional landscapes and described it as ‘a pick and mix full of treasures’.

Balam and Lluvia’s House by Julio Serrano Echeverria, illustrated by Tolanda Mosquera, translated by Lawrence Schimel, The Emma Press

Balam and Lluvia’s House is full of lively, playful but reflective poems, that invite the reader to run alongside Balam and his sister Lluvia as they go about their lives and through their house. The judges found the book fresh and distinctive, beautifully translated with an intensely poetic quality. It’s also a window into a different culture.

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, Otter-Barry Books

Matt Goodfellow has been shortlisted for the CLiPPA four times in the last three years: for Bright Bursts of Colour in 2021, for Being Me and Caterpillar Cake in 2022, and for Let’s Chase Stars Together in 2023. Now he has made the shortlist with his first verse novel, The Final Year. The story of Nate, as he navigates the final year of primary school, facing particular challenges at home, is moving and thought-provoking with real emotional depth. The judges loved its use of vernacular and poetic techniques, ‘it captures the voice of the classroom’.

And I Climbed And I Climbed by Stephen Lightbown, illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin, Troika Books

And I Climbed And I Climbed is Stephen Lightbown’s first poetry collection for children and draws on his experience as a wheelchair user after becoming paralysed following an accident. Written mostly in the voice of 8-year-old Cosmo who is unable to walk after falling from a tree, and illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin, the poems are angry, questioning, resigned, determined as he describes his feelings to the tree. The judges found it emotionally intense, authentic and a clear expression of difficult feelings, with lots that’s interesting and beautiful.

So now it’s over to schools and young people for the Shadowing. Remembering previous winning performances – ten-year-old Fatima’s rendition of Unbroken from Nicola Davies’ collection Choose Love; eleven-year-old Oluwajomiloju’s performance of Remember III from these are the words by Nikita Gill; Cerys, Jimmy-Dean, Tam, Scarlett, Joseph, India, Izore, Willow, Leo, Josiah, Alex and Frankie, from St Margaret Mary’s Primary in Manchester performing I Hope it Rains Today from Matt Goodfellow’s Let’s Chase Stars Together, and the understanding and control they brought to them; I can’t wait to see this year’s entries. To quote Liz Berry on the CLiPPA again, ‘Here, children are equals and collaborators in the poetry magic-making, invited to keep poems as friends for the rest of their lives.’ What could be better?

The winner of the 2024 CLiPPA will be announced at the National Theatre on Friday 12 July.

This year’s judging panel is Liz Berry, teacher and writer Darren Chetty, Billie Manning of the Poetry Society, Imogen Maund, teacher and UKLA representative, and poet Laura Mucha, who was shortlisted for the CLiPPA in 2022.

Andrea Reece

Andrea Reece is Managing Editor of Books for Keeps, reviews editor at Lovereading4Kids and administrator of the Branford Boase Award and Klaus Flugge Prize. She works with CLPE on the CLiPPA. She is currently managing PR and communications for Poetry By Heart.

National Literacy Trust

Mohamed Saloo: To Evoke the Potential of Poetry

There I was, tapping on a laptop in the hall of a secondary school preparing to deliver a rehearsed workshop, when from amongst the incoming students one flamboyantly remarked:

‘To be or not to be, that [he paused] is the question,’ and I smirked. This was going to be interesting.

I should clarify that my smirk was neither that of a poetic super villain nor a caped wordsmith. It stemmed from my inner core value of breaking the stereotype of poets without compromising any of my identities. I am a poet, a South Asian Muslim poet who grew up in a small town near three cities in West Yorkshire, where sharing my skill of expression eluded opportunity when I was their age. This is why when asked to be part of West Yorkshire Poetry Week by the National Literacy Trust, in search of the first Young Poet Laureates for the region, I leapt at this wonderful initiative.

It is true, the perception of poetry lives in the typed text presented of verse written long ago. The young are asked to recite and analyse passages that, as eloquently beautiful as they may be, live in a hierarchy of literature. A place many fail to see themselves in. What I, and unhesitatingly add all those involved, wished to show is the possibilities poetry offers no matter what identity ticks the diversity sheet. If you do not see someone like you at the front, how can you imagine getting there?

Poetry is the expression of thoughts and feelings for the poet, it is the interpretation of thoughts and feelings for the reader. We connect not with what the poet says but through our lived experiences. It is why in the description of a bench in the park we picture a bench in the park where we once sat, not necessarily where the poet sits. Explaining this opened those young minds in the room who realised poetry is not someone else’s experience, but their own.

This incredible journey in search of the Young Poet Laureates evoked powerful verse from children worthy of any bookshelf in any library, no matter how old the oak of the shelf may be. And none more so than the two young poets who became the first to embark on this historic appointment.

Alina Brdar and Izzy Walker possess an incredible talent that was seen in their submitted poetry and performances. It has been an immense joy to work with both during their year-long tenure in one-to-one sessions, sharing my own experience and seeing the confidence they have in their words grow steadily. We all write what we are comfortable with, but through the mentoring session these two talented young poets have an opportunity to see other poets sharing their experience and style, so that Alina and Izzy can find their own poetic identities, and see how the evolution of this art grows through the moments of thought and the flashes of feeling that sprint through them in the everyday life that opens the poet’s vision.

It must be said, West Yorkshire is phenomenally blessed by poetry, as seen in the anthology of the shortlisted young poets. This initiative by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin and Poet Laureate Simon Armitage with the dedication of the National Literacy Trust has opened a new generation to the potential of poetry.

Meanwhile, back in the open space of a secondary school where this poet shared his story journeying through four decades of writing, led to the flamboyant student returning at the end of the workshop with inspiration in his eyes and honesty in his voice to say, ‘I get your poetry’.

Mohamed Saloo

Mohamed is a published poet, workshop facilitator, spoken word artist and co-founder of Batley Poets. He aims to create opportunities for poets of any age to showcase their poetry, saying that the reason for founding the poetry group was to give bedroom poets a platform to share their poetry. More about Mohamed and his poetry can be found at: https://mohamedsaloo.co.uk/

National Literacy Trust https://literacytrust.org.uk/

West Yorkshire Young Poet Laureates https://literacytrust.org.uk/programmes/young-writers/west-yorkshire-poet-laureate-competition/celebrating-west-yorkshire-young-poets/

Children's Poet Profile

Dom Conlon: A Profile

Who are you?
I’m a wanderer through dreams, a collector of starlight, a windmill in the storm of words. My mum calls me Dominic, other people call me Dom Conlon but I’m still learning the many names which seem to fit at different times of the day.

How long have you been writing poetry for children?
Since 5:30am! Can you believe that? I haven’t even had breakfast yet. Though I’d also say that I don’t write poetry for children. I write poetry for myself and I hope to do that in a way which people of all ages can enjoy.

How did you get started?
I wrote poetry as a child which feels like the perfect time to start exploring what poetry can do. I kept on writing as I left university and found ways to include poetry in work I was doing for video games and advertising. And then, one amazing evening in the Liverpool World Museum, I was treated to a talk about the universe and I knew that the only way I could respond was with poetry. As Rachel Carson said, no-one can write truthfully about nature and leave out poetry. So that was me finding a reason to use my voice. I published a collection and was then asked to write more. Publishers seem to keep asking me and I keep finding new things to write about.

What do you enjoy writing?
I love exploring how I experience the world – trying to turn that “wow” or “NO” into something other people can relate to, like becoming a channel for water so others can taste for themselves. There’s also a lot of satisfaction to be had in creating something and feeling it’s good. So I also enjoy finishing a piece of writing.

Do you have any poetry writing tips to share with us?
Be patient. Write as much as you can and then put it to one side. If a line or phrase sticks in your memory then look at the poem again and try to craft it. Editing is where the poem really begins. Also, learn all about sonnets and haiku and ghazals and odes and rap and cinquains and any other form of poetry that you can. Even if you never write in that form then understanding why they work will help you understand what your own style can do too.

Which is your favourite amongst the books you’ve written?
I have no favourites. Each book I’ve written was done to learn something about myself and the universe I’m part of. Even the sillier poems. Because of that I turn to each book for different reasons, different moods or needs. I don’t like my left foot any more than I like my right eye. Everything about me is me, including my books.

Which book was most important in your career as a poet?
I’ve heard that some books, like the Wild Wanderers series, are noticed by other publishers who might then ask me to write something for them. Other times it’s being nominated for a prize. Mostly it’s being honest about whether I have something to say because then other people can see why it’s important that they work with you.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself or children’s poetry?
I think we need to take ourselves seriously and value what we do. I believe poetry makes a positive impact in this world and so that work deserves to be recognised and embraced. This means celebrating it in our society and making space for it in the same way we do for other artforms and for science. But it also means we should pay for it because then it’s less easily discarded. By giving it away we are saying that it isn’t as important as that can of fizz or bar of chocolate we just bought. If we value the voices of a diverse range of poets then we can’t have just the ones who can afford to write for free.

Dom Conlon

Dom Conlon is a UNESCO World Poetry Day Poet with multiple Carnegie nominations. His work for the BBC’s Make A Difference campaign helped bring poetry to the fore during the pandemic and he regularly performs at festivals, schools, and libraries across the UK.

Author and Poet

Sue Hardy-Dawson: Writing from the Abyss

I have been unwell quite a bit recently, I’m okay now, however it’s been a something of a slog. Not least because my default coping mechanism is escaping into either a good book or writing poetry. Sadly, for very sound reasons, I was unable to do either. Thus so, incapacitated, I was left far too long to the machinations and oddities of daytime television. I’m not a fan. I confess even on a good day I struggle with anything scary or upsetting, so in the circumstances it wasn’t long before I had exhausted all Jane Austen and fluffy Disney…

Monsters

& so again
sleep won't come
even small things
grow long and wide
cares so easily
passed in pauses
between washing-
up & laundry
now in the silence
creep out, speak
as if sunlight shuns
their dark powers
& I long for my father
to hold me again
tell me it's not true

© Sue Hardy-Dawson

Around that time, I recall a lovely writer friend saying to me, can’t you use your writing, cathartically, write your way through it? But, honesty, I really couldn’t. Whilst I have enormous admiration for those that can write on through their pain and bare their souls, it’s the most incredibly brave and gruelling thing anyone can do even if they are in a good place. More so because no good poem or story ever hits the ground running. They have to be moulded and tweaked, they require polishing and prodding. So, whilst I could perhaps have put many, many words on a page, having written them what would I do? To edit is in all senses to relive the narrative. To relive joy and beauty is just that, but to relive this misery? No not for me – I’m a self-acknowledged ostrich.

Fear Can Be a Wise Friend

If jumping in the river
or crossing busy roads
where eating with a tiger
or inviting anacondas home

In the case of tightrope walking
or a career swallowing swords
if considering dragon taming
or hang gliding off walls

If climbing a giant mountain
meeting vampires late at night
playing football with a T-rex
understandably one might

feel just a little bit nervous
or quite rationally some terror
so why is it you're screaming
I'm just a tiny little spider?

© Sue Hardy-Dawson

The thing is misery and worries are very debilitating things creatively and it’s not uncommon for them to eclipse absolutely everything else, so I don’t think we should be hard on ourselves for that. Even without anything big going on our brains are about 90% butterfly; unruly creatures keeping us up all night worrying about strange sounds or something happening many hours or even days away. Then there’s the things that won’t ever happen or there’s little chance of happening.

Moon Child, Sue Hardy-Dawson, Illustrated by Carolina Rabei, Hodder Children’s Books

Of course, in evolutionary terms, worries and fears kept us safe, they stopped us getting eaten by animals and incinerated by volcanoes. Nowadays, though, mostly they deprive us of much needed sleep and turn our brains to mush. Worse, their good friend blind panic runs amok, ridding us of our senses and rationalities. Yet who has not done or said something blush-worthy in panic mode.

Writer's Block

I have no sentences today
every line
has slipped away
no adjectives
no nouns or verbs
I looked but found
no way with words
no paragraphs
to call my own
I'm story-less
without a poem
my pen sleeps sound
as does my brain
only this empty page

remains...

© Sue Hardy-Dawson

Then there’s those traitorous inner voices. The soundtrack to our insecurities. We pick up the metaphorical stick and often spend a lifetime beating ourselves with it. Rarely are we our own best friend, we save our kindness for others.

Simply put, life is hard sometimes and we all need to get away from its realities from time to time. Whilst others might run, crochet or bake, I write to escape. Sadly, it needs all your brain to do that and so for quite a long while my magical getaway vehicle was in the garage. Occasionally it would turn up and run a few hundred yards, then I’d fill up with nervous surprise and hope. And that other stuff, the doubts: was ‘it’ ever coming back? Would ‘it’ be what it once was? I’d hope though and there were other precedents, following other major emotional if not physical body blows.

Yet even in my darkest hours I never feel quite so low and lonely as I do without my poetry, most of my life it’s made sense of the nonsensical, spoken for me when I haven’t the right words. Yes, it’s taken its good time returning and had a few false starts along the way, but it’s my best and longest-standing friend and as such I forgive it absolutely anything.

Sue Hardy-Dawson

Sue Hardy-Dawson is a poet and illustrator. Her debut collection, Where Zebras Go, Otter-Barry Books, was shortlisted for the 2018 CLiPPA. Her second, Apes to Zebras, Bloomsbury, co-written with poetry ambassadors Roger Stevens and Liz Brownlee, won the NSTB Awards. Sue loves visiting schools, has worked with the Prince of Wales Foundation, ‘Children and the Arts’. As a dyslexic poet, she loves encouraging reluctant writers.

Poet and Film-Maker

Shauna Darling Robertson: Poetry Films and Empathy

In my last blog for the Summit I wrote about Making Poetry Films which sparked quite a bit of interest so I thought I’d look at poetry film-making again here, from a slightly different angle.

My poetry collection You Are Not Alone (Troika, 2023), on teen and young adult mental health and wellbeing, has been selected for The Empathy Lab’s Read for Empathy Collection 2024 and so I’ve been working on some poetry films with empathy in mind.

Interestingly, I’ve discovered along the way that the very process of making poetry films seems to draw on several of the key skills of empathy! When you empathise with someone, you aim to understand their viewpoint and to offer them opportunities to experience, explore and express that viewpoint, regardless of whether you happen to share it. Similarly, in making poetry films, it’s important to avoid ‘collapsing’ the poem into a single or dominant line of interpretation or narrative, since the power of a good poem often lies in its ability to leave plenty of room for each reader / listener / viewer to have their own unique experience.

Here are two recent films, along with some notes on how I tried to build in ‘empathy room’ to allow for diverse experiences.

Chloe

Chloe, her back-story and her relationship with ‘you’ could be understood in multiple ways, so I steered clear of using images of specific people. Instead, I focused on the heart as the poem’s main ‘character’ and on the process of Chloe giving or offering her heart as the main ‘story’, and left everything else more or less open. There are just two images: the heart and Chloe’s hands. And just two sounds: the heartbeat and the voiced poem.

I chose the cut-in-half apple image for the heart, with multiple jerky changes of tone, colour and resolution, to mirror the poem’s suggestions that something in Chloe’s heart may be hurt or faltering, or that her thoughts and feelings may seem confused or messy. But at the same time, the ‘breathing / beating’ apple and the sound of the heartbeat remain steady throughout, so perhaps the heart could be stronger and more resolute than presumed? Similarly, the heartbeat (which I slowed down for effect) could imply daring and courage on Chloe’s part, or it could instil a sense of risk and foreboding.

As the viewer, you might identify with the ‘you’ character in the poem. How do you feel about Chloe’s offering… honoured at being trusted; wary of something seemingly damaged; open to the offering but afraid of the responsibility; something else?

What I Wanted

In this film I wanted to avoid pinning down the reason for the protagonist’s fears (eg. social anxiety, low self-esteem, something about the specific relationship, etc). I chose instead to explore the felt experience of the poem: the push-pull of desire and fear, the frustration of reaching out and holding back at the same time.

Dance offered an interesting way to navigate this. It took many hours to research footage, cut and paste clips, run them forwards and backwards, and change their speed until I eventually got something that fit the poem’s narrative! For the music, I looked for something slightly surreal to mirror the poem’s increasingly outlandish fears.

I quite like the end result, but I’m also concerned that the presence of the dancers might pin the poem down to a specific type of relationship – a romantic one – whereas it could be about many other types of encounter (such as a son and his estranged father, a struggling friendship, etc).

What if the film showed no people, just an empty seat in a café? How about if the voice were male? I might have a go at making another version, to allow for more diverse interpretations.

It’s a fascinating process, and one that really invites you to question your own preferred narratives and automatic assumptions!

Shauna Darling Robertson

Shauna Darling Robertson grew up in the north-east of England and now lives in the south-west. She has two poetry collections for young people: Saturdays at the Imaginarium (Troika, 2020), a National Poetry Day 2021 selection, and You Are Not Alone (Troika, 2023). www.shaunadarlingrobertson.com

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Natasha Ryan: How I Wrote It – Three Foyle Young Poets on their Winning Poems

Spring is always busy at The Poetry Society, with lots of poets visiting schools for World Book Day, slam projects, and challenges and workshops on Young Poets Network. It’s also when we launch our annual competition for poets aged 11-17, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. The award is one of the world’s foremost writing competitions for young poets, with a reputation for finding and nurturing emerging voices. This year’s award is judged by the brilliant Vanessa Kisuule and Jack Underwood, and is open for entries until 31 July at foyleyoungpoets.org

To inspire entrants, the winning poems from the 2023 award are freely available to read in an online anthology – teachers or poets working in secondary schools can also request a free class set of print copies by emailing fyp@poetrysociety.org.uk

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023

For further inspiration, we asked three of last year’s winners to share an insight into how they wrote their winning poems. Here are extracts from their accounts: read the full features at bit.ly/foyleyoungpoets

Tyra Alamu and Frank Qi — Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023

When I was beginning to write my poem, ‘Hometown Eulogy’, I was on a plane from China to England, reflecting on how much had changed within myself and my identity since I last visited four years prior. I had so much to say, and all I needed to do was find the right words. In my first draft, I framed the poem almost as a letter to my younger self: the one who was also on the plane all those years ago, who also did not know what “home” truly meant, nor what it means to divide yourself across two cultures. If I had to guess why my poem may have been successful, I would say it was because it came from my own raw experiences, and the feelings and emotions I had attached to them. Writing that stems from yourself is a good place to start, because the unique life you lead shares moments in common with those reading your poetry, and our incredible ability to empathise translates into the appreciation of your work.
Frank Qi, age 17

I wrote ‘Not black enough’ because I wanted to try out writing something that related to me on a personal level. I decided on the topic of racism because it’s something I experience on a day-to-day basis, and I feel like I rarely see young writers talk about it. I also wanted to prove a point: that racism goes on everywhere when you are a young black girl. I chose the title ‘Not black enough’ because I wanted something simple that would touch people on a personal and close-to-heart level. I wanted to write poetry that was realistic and direct, much like Maya Angelou, who I respect for the way she presented her poetry and how real she was about it.
Tyra Alamu, age 14

Bea Unwin — Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023

When I have an idea for a line, I try and write down everything I can think of that could relate to it, without worrying if it’s good or not. Once I’ve filled the space with some vaguely verse-y ramble, I snip out the pieces I like and draft an actual poem, playing around with formatting, phrasing and imagery. I love tying together the images in my poems… sometimes the best poems are the ones that began as messy ideas, and were then refined into something you’re proud of. Personally, winning the Foyle Award with ‘suggestions for first love’ was not something I ever expected. [It] meant so much to me, and brought me one step closer to being like the poets I admire and forming a place of my own in the world of writing. 
Bea Unwin, age 15

If you know a keen poet aged 11-17, encourage them to enter their poems into this year’s award for the chance to be among the 2024 winners. It’s free to enter, poems can be on any theme and must be 40 lines or shorter. foyleyoungpoets.org

Natasha Ryan

Natasha Ryan is Education Manager at The Poetry Society. Frank Qi, Tyra Alamu and Bea Unwin were top 15 winners in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023.

Author, Poet and Educator

Pie Corbett: Wings Like Blinds/Closing the Truth

There are a few ways into teaching poetic writing that are amenable to most teachers and children.

The first approach is to use a repeating phrase to add ideas rather like a verbal coat-hanger. These might be about capturing real things such as a local scene:

I see the willow trees stooping in the wind.
I see the red bus rumbling by…

Or, creating something more surreal:

I opened the door of loss
and found only your shadow.

I opened the door of sunsets
and found the evening’s sleepy shadow.

I invented an alternative to the list poem many years ago and called it, ‘the spine poem’. Generally, the first line introduces the subject matter. The writer then makes a list of key details to describe or write about. These can be listed down the centre of the page. A final line wraps the poem up.

Recent work on that old standby ‘dragons’ provides a simple example. With the class, make a simple list of parts of the dragon’s body – head, eyes, scales, claws, tail, etc. Use this as a basis for a poem in which you take each part of the dragon and create a descriptive line or phrase. A model is not needed, as the technique is so strong that it provides the writing frame. Children should draw on all their senses: imagine what you are writing about – see it in your mind – how does it move? What sounds does it make? If you touched its scales what would they feel like?

Using dragon art may help trigger ideas. I always spend time ‘doing a class version’ first. Less confident writers find co-creating a huge brainstorm of ideas and language helpful as a writing resource. Helpful techniques include: – surprise the reader with unexpected word combinations; use a touch of alliteration to hear the sounds and make phrases memorable; try new imagery using ‘like’ or ‘as’ or metaphor.

In Robert’s poem, I have put his spine details in bold to make it obvious for the reader. Note too how these writers use rhyme lightly, without ruining the effect. The poems were written through an online lesson on @TeachingLive.

LUCIFER’S DEN… 

Within a dark ominous cave 
a peculiar figure awaits. 

The dragon’s soul-sucking eyes
stare shining in the night sky.

Its famished teeth crack and
chomp on flesh and bones. 
He gobbles and nibbles.

A blazing tail strikes 
crushing the ground.  

Creaking claws slice and dice
through flesh, lay scattered on
the floor.

Wings like blinds,
Closing the truth.  

Scales as thick
as rocks.

Robert – Finzean PS

The stars of a dragon poem 

In its mythical cave,
The azure water splashes onto pointed rocks
The dragon’s curved horns prickle
like a billion shadows emerging.

Its shimmer stares into souls,
bloodshot eyes glitter in the moonlight 
with the demon gazing at his prey.

Razor-sharp claws snatch his 
fresh flesh covered
bones scattered around its body
one deadly claw will be stained with blood.

The wings, clatter in the shiny stars 
like gigantic diamonds of frost.

Sadly,
it lost the shadow of grief,
the stars caught in its red eyes.

Belle – Turnfurlong JS

Dragon Poem

Red eyes twitch, 
They brighten,
And frighten.

Footsteps linger,
Echoing everywhere,
Looking for someone.

Glistening scales,
Shimmer in the darkness,
Clattering in the black.

Huge horns spike,
Standing tall,
Feeling ready to find their next prey.

Piercing claws,
Send shivers down your spine,
Removing all in the way.

Tremendous teeth,
Bite through all of you,
Never feeling guilty.

Max - Turnfurlong JS



Pie Corbett

Pie Corbett is a teacher-poet. He runs online training for teachers and every Monday works with about 6,000 children on @TeachingLive, running writing sessions of poetry, creative nonfiction and story.

https://teachinglive.net

Author and Poet

Roger Stevens: Poets Just Wanna Have Fun

Poetry is a serious business. Ask any scholar of the three grandmasters of English Literature – Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton. Hundreds of years of study show just how serious they are. But many of our poetic giants are also known for their comedy and playfulness: Chaucer has fun at the expense of his Canterbury pilgrims; Shakespeare can’t resist a joke; and Milton – well, Milton not so much. Although it could be argued that God shows his sense of humour throughout Paradise Lost. “So, guys,” (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Man will fall unless one of you angels sacrifices yourself. Whaddya think?” (Angels shuffle about, not making eye contact, checking their mobile phones…)

My favourite contemporary poet is probably Roger McGough. He’s written some seriously good “serious” poems. Among my favourites is a father telling his son that life is a bit of a downer in ‘The Way Things Are’. “The guitarist gently weeps, not the guitar.” Amusing but also clever and profound. He also wrote ‘To amuse emus/on warm summer nights/Kiwis do wee wees/from spectacular heights’.

And, whilst referencing Roger McGough referencing The Beatles, nowhere is this link between having fun and creativity more obvious than in the Get Back documentary. The Beatles goofing around, whilst creating some of the best and most revered songs in popular music history, shows how being relaxed, allowing the mind to wander into strange and unusual places, aids creativity.

To writers visiting schools, this notion of having fun is very important. Learning is a serious business because there is so much pressure on both children and teachers to perform. One of the keys to learning is motivation. There’s plenty of learned research to support this but most of us know it is actually self-evident that if a class of 10 year olds are enjoying the lesson or the workshop, they are going to grow as a result of it.

Whilst visiting a school for World Book Day, children’s poet Attie Lime says she visibly winced when the teacher told the children to “remember to use expanded noun phrases” in their poems. She says she sidled up to him and told him that it hurt her poet’s heart. They talked about freedom and imagination and the teacher said, “I wish.” Teachers don’t make (or always agree with) the national rules that they’re forced to work under.

A few years ago, I was in a staffroom on the day that an Ofsted inspection had been announced. The head came in wearing a big badge: WE ARE DOOMED. It was a lovely school, working in a very difficult area, and it reminded me that we have to keep a sense humour in these dark and cash-strapped times. We need people in government who know whythere’s more to learning than ticking boxes. We need to support and encourage teachers who understand the importance of the creative arts. We need people like Pie Corbett and Michael Rosen to remind us why we are teaching poetry to children: we are helping them communicate and express themselves through words, to grow into articulate adults.

We need to stress the importance to the powers that be of making school time to read poems, talk about poems and write poems. And we need to explain that to help children to learn and to find something serious in a poem, and in literature in general, the best way to connect is to start with play. It’s not a new idea. Having fun should be at the heart of all our teaching, especially when we’re introducing young minds to the wonderful world of words.

Roger Stevens

Roger Stevens has had over 40 books published: novels, numerous solo poetry collections and edited poetry collections. His latest is his best-of collection Razzmatazz (Otter-Barry Books). When not writing, he visits schools, libraries and festivals performing his work and running workshops for young people and teachers. He is a National Poetry Day Ambassador for the Forward Arts Foundation, a founding member of the Able Writers scheme with Brian Moses; and of course runs the award-winning and most excellent poetry website PoetryZone.

The Poetry Zone https://poetryzone.co.uk/

Authors Abroad

Robin Snook: Authors Abroad

Trevor Wilson founded Caboodle Books T/A Authors Abroad in 2008. As an experienced teacher both in UK and international schools, he was well placed to understand the impact a visiting author, particularly one who had books to sign, could have on children in schools across the globe. Starting with one author, the roster was quickly expanded, and now stands at 200+ brilliant authors, poets, illustrators and storytellers, all listed on our website: authorsabroad.com. Trevor’s vision and drive has underpinned the business for over 15 years, and the team he has built are all committed to continuing his good work!

Authors Abroad has three main areas to its business, these being AIM High, UK bookings, and Overseas bookings. The AIM High division, formerly known as Able Writers, was set up in 2011, when we joined forces with its founder, Brian Moses. Originally designed as a dedicated school day with an expert author to develop writing skills for a gifted and talented group of 30 Primary students, the model has been expanded to include Maths and Science events, and since the pandemic we have also offered “catch up” days and trialled the model in secondary schools too. AIM High days rely on successful and committed host schools and neighbouring guest schools, and we are always looking for new host schools – so please contact Laura Bolton for more information.

The UK bookings team led by former school librarian Yvonne Lang has seen a welcome return to in-person author visits, and whilst World Book Week and World Book Day remain a key literary focus for schools across the UK, Yvonne and her team have identified a number of other key dates through the academic calendar, such as National Poetry Day in early October, and Environment Day in early June. Yvonne also receives many approaches from authors and poets asking to join Authors Abroad, and although we can only take on a small number of new people each year, we are always looking for exciting new talent.

One of our strongest suits is now undoubtedly poetry. Not only do we have a growing number of very talented performance, rap, hip-hop, beat-box and slam poets on our books, but in conjunction with former Birmingham Poet Laureate Spoz (Giovanni Esposito), we have rolled out a series of Poetry Slam events across the country to great effect, and so far in 7 different regions. These involve a dedicated day at a school and culminate in inter-school finals every March and April. Even the shyest and most reluctant students are inspired by the medium of poetry, and we are now looking to set up CPD poetry workshops for teachers as well.

Our name, Authors Abroad, would suggest that we also send many of our acts overseas, which of course we do. The pandemic stopped us in our tracks, as it was just not possible to fly our authors to different parts of the world. However, I am pleased to say that, whilst virtual visits continue to have their place in the overseas market, in-person visits are definitely back in vogue. This term alone will see our acts visit a range of far-flung countries including Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Oman, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Qatar and Uganda, to name but a few – it really is heartening to see the world opening up again, and to receive amazing testimonials from international school librarians whose schools and students have been starved of the creative inspiration that an in-person author visit provides.

Finally, you might also be wondering what Caboodle Books is. Caboodle Books is in all our staff emails, and quite simply is the name of our own publishing imprint. We describe ourselves as a niche publisher, which means that we generally only publish for authors and poets we work with regularly in schools. Notable recent publications include Nicky Singer’s Island, Karl Nova’s CLiPPA-winning Rhythm and Poetry, Steve Davies’ The Ancient Egypt Sleepover, and in line with our poetic strong suit, we have also recently published new books for Chris White, Christian Foley, Emily Lauren-Jones, Kimba Bush and Rob Bradley.

What is the best way to get in touch with the Authors Abroad team, and why not sign up for our twice termly and free newsletter? – please email us at: general@caboodlebooks.co.uk

Robin Snook

Robin Snook joined the Authors Abroad team in 2015 to manage and grow the overseas side of the business, having a business background in the print industry, and specifically in sales and marketing. Robin is also a keen sportsman, and during the pandemic he realised the dream of publishing two non-fiction sporting titles.

authorsabroad.com