I used to think that in order to do a poetry residency, you had to take your sleeping bag somewhere and sit in a cupboard writing poems. I’ve done a fair few now and have discovered that actually, they are a way to bring together the various bits of being a poet, with an organisation’s aims, and create something interesting. I’ve been a poet in residence on Radio 4’s Saturday Live for three years, have done a residency at the Free Word Centre in London’s Flow Festival, Fest Magazine during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010, Darlington Railway Museum in 2009 and even a colostomy nurses conference in 2011. I love residencies and am always up for more!

There is also some information about what I can add as a Poet in Residence at your conference or event here.

Excitingly I am the Great North Run’s first Poet in Residence in 2011 and as well as doing poems during the run on September 18th, I will be writing poems for a pamphlet to be given away to the runners, about...well...running I imagine. Look out for my blogs and poems here (Link to the Great North Run site at www.greatrun.org)

I have been on a Cultural Leadership programme, attached to New Writing North, the literature development agency. (Read my final report on the placement here)

I have set up a group for young writers, investigated issues facing writers in schools and the partnerships needed to create effective creative writing projects and, through an experiment as Social Networker in Residence at Durham Literature Festival, began looking at the role of social networking in literature development.

The key question, as in much of my educational work is; how can I use my skills and processes as a writer and performer to help develop other people’s skills and confidence in literacy and creativity?

I’m a passionate advocate of performance poetry and spoken word as a means of giving people a voice and have run several successful sell out gigs and slams under the banner of New Word Order and Hyperlexic at venues including Northern Stage, Arc in Stockton, the Saville Exchange in North Tyneside and the Hexham Book Festival. I was on the board of Apples and Snakes the national performance poetry organisation from 2009/11.

I've run lots of projects and CPD sessions in schools, for teachers and literature and arts workers.

Subjects I’ve covered include; slam poetry, rap poetry and word battles, performance poetry, stand up comedy, writing for radio, performance, public speaking and lecturing, creative writing, collaborative creativity, news poetry, Twitter poetry, journalism and more.

In 2010 I worked with Manchester Children’s Book Festival to develop an innovative project blending Twitter, journalism and poetry writing. Read about it here.

I am also a person friendly poet who is happy to come and give cheery, wide ranging talks and performances and readings, as well as very much enjoying helping other people to access their own voices and creativity.

I do one off days and longer projects and will tailor them to your organisation’s needs. Project fees need to factor in planning time and travel as well as delivery.