Poetry services:
judging, commissions, residencies
Poetry services
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Researching (including conducting interviews where appropriate), writing and editing commissioned poems.
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Working in collaboration with other artists on projects which feature poetry.
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Writer/poet residencies (both virtual and in-person).
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Judging poetry competitions, which can include: making nominations, writing an overall report, giving feedback on individual poems and running a connected workshop/talk.
Experience
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Writer in residence for 2017 at the Maggie's Centre, Nottingham, which included:
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​Commissioned poems on the services the centre provides and the impact of these on service users - see list on Poetry page.
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Poetry readings and talks at events and fundraisers, on the benefits of creative writing as therapy during/after cancer.
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Media interviews on Maggie's Nottingham, writing as therapy and my commissioned poems - see Interviews page for audio clips.
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Commissioned poem for the collaborative feature 'Snap Notts' in Left Lion arts magazine, a regular feature in which a poet and artist collaborate on a piece inspired by a local theme/location. 'Hopo's' was created in collaboration with photographer Thomas Griffiths.
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Commissioned poem for the My Three Words exhibition - an IOU Theatre project for the Junction, Goole's online gallery. 'Day-blink', as with all the pieces in the exhibition, was inspired by a specific location in Goole and it's three-word identification on the What Three Words app. For this, I created a written version and audio recording of the poem.
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Judge for West Park Writers Poetry Competition 2022: I read all entries, nominated poems as 1st, 2nd, third and commended, and wrote a report which included both an overall critique and feedback on each poem.​​​​
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See testimonial below by Sylvia Brant, Organiser of the West Park Writers Poetry Competition.
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Virtual Writer-in-Residence for November 2021 at Writers Victoria, Melbourne, Australia - I was one of ten writers from Cities of Literature across the world, selected by Melbourne City of Literature for virtual residences during November 2021. I worked with Writers Victoria, the largest organisation supporting writers in the Australian state of Victoria.
This residency included:
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writing a blog on the importance of online access to literary events ('To zoom or not to zoom?')
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taking part in a poetry reading and discussion as part of the Book Lovers Festival
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creating and giving a seminar on producing and promoting chapbooks/pamphlets ('Producing a chapbook: from poems to publicity').​​
Testimonials
Lucy Hamilton
CEO, Writers Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
On Jo's virtual residency with Writers Victoria, Nov 2021:
"Jo was Writers Victoria’s inaugural (Melbourne) City of Literature resident in November 2021 and she was an absolute delight to work with. She wrote a piece for us ('To zoom or not to zoom?', delivered a seminar ('Producing a chapbook: from poems to publicity', and took part in a poetry reading event.
Throughout she was communicative and reliable. She was great at talking to us at the start about what would and wouldn’t work, and setting realistic deadlines with us that she consistently met.
Her work itself was extremely well received by our members and wider community – her article created much discussion, and her two events had glowing feedback.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend working with Jo in the future."
Sylvia Brant
Competition Organiser, West Park Writers
On Jo's judging of the West Park Writers Poetry Competition, June 2022:
"The group were very pleased with their individual critiques and they also found Jo's overall comments very useful.
She gave praise and encouragement, which helps to motivate and inspire, as well as pointing out, in a nice way, where improvements could be made.
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I’d like to add, the presentation of her work was excellent. We hope Jo will judge for us again in the future."
David Wheeler
Artistic Director, IOU Theatre, Goole.
On Jo's poem 'Day-blink', commissioned for the My Three Words exhibition:
"You've done an amazing job creating this in such a short space of time. I really appreciate it and it adds greatly to the opening selection for the Gallery.
Your poem is wonderful and perfect for the my.three.words website.
Also your recording of it is excellent."
Writers Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
Feedback from participants at Jo's seminar 'Producing a pamphlet: from poems to publicity':
"This course was spot on the topic! So clear and helpful to my goal of putting together a chapbook and publicising same."
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"Covered the whole process and came from experience."
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"Informative."
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"Friendly and conversational."
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"I appreciate the time Jo took in answering all our queries."
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