I was completely bowled over to have my collection of poems ‘Gain Access’ chosen, along with Annina Zheng-Hardy, as one of the winners of the 2025 Book & Pamphlet Competition, run by the poetry Business and judged by Kim Moore.
‘Gain Access’ is a collection of poems based on my time working in social housing in Leeds.
Kim Moore said: ““I’ve always loved poems about work, but I’ve never read anything quite like this. Written from the viewpoint of a social housing officer, we get an insight into the emotional toll it takes to do a job where you want to help people but instead become part of an under-resourced system that is often casually cruel and fails the people it should be protecting. These poems are full of humour, keen observation and insight about society and our roles within it.”
Here’s a poem from the collection.
‘Gain Access’ launches at the Wordsworth Trust’s Jerwood Centre, Dove Cottage, on Saturday 4th October, at 2pm. Tickets are free, and are available here. Junners-up from the competition Ilse Peddler and Sally Baker will also be reading.
I’ll be reading at a celebration of the Poetry Business’s brilliant The North magazine, which has its 40th birthday this year. That’s on Saturday 18th October, at 3:30pm, and tickets are £12/8. This is part of the poetry day at Ilkley Lit Fest - make a day of it if you can!
Then there’s a launch in Leeds on Saturday 25th October, also at 2pm, with two special guests (to be announced soon!) and MC Joe Williams.