UCLan’s Dr Yvonne Reddick has been commissioned to produce a free poetry tutorial guide
A University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) academic has been handpicked to create a practical guide to writing poetry to mark National Poetry Day.
Dr Yvonne Reddick has been commissioned by the Poetry Society to produce a free tutorial to inspire people to write about the environment and climate.
In the resource, the Research Fellow in Modern English and World Literatures has selected two of her favourite prize-winning and highly commended poems, Harpy Eagle Father by Pascale Petit and The Desktop Metaphor by Caleb Parkin, and explains how people can use them to craft their own poetry.
The award-winning author has also produced six helpful writing tips to help new poets make a start on their creative work – some pointers include think of a person you care about, from the present or past and if they were an animal, what kind would they be?
"I was thrilled to be asked to write this! I can’t think of a better topic than the environment and climate change to inspire people to be creative"
— Dr Yvonne Reddick, Research Fellow in Modern English and World Literatures
She said: “I was thrilled to be asked to write this! I can’t think of a better topic than the environment and climate change to inspire people to be creative. Whether you want to write an animal-poem with someone you know as the main character, or craft a climate change poem that drifts across the page, I hope you’ll find something in this guide to get your creative juices flowing!”
The aim of the inspirational resource, which has gone live today (Thursday) on National Poetry Day, is to inspire people to write poetry that they can enter for the National Poetry Competition. The competition is now open for submissions and closes on 31 October.
Dr Reddick’s poem ‘Muirburn’ won the Poetry Society’s Peggy Poole Award and was commended in the National Poetry competition in 2017. Her book Burning Season will be published by Bloodaxe in May 2023. Her poems have appeared in The Guardian Review and The Poetry Review, and she has received awards from New Writing North and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She edited Magma Poetry’s Anthropocene Issue, with Cheryl Moskowitz and Maya Chowdhry. Yvonne’s publications include Ted Hughes: Environmentalist and Ecopoet, and the pamphlets Spikenard and Translating Mountains.
The resource is now available to download online.
