Poet-in-Residence
Poets in Residence
With the support of Arts Council England, the Wordsworth Trust residency scheme has been supporting writers for 15 years. Poets at a crucial stage in their career are given a stipend and the use of a cottage around the corner from Dove Cottage, where William Wordsworth lived when he wrote much of his greatest poetry. Here, they are given time and space to develop their craft.
Our poet-in-residence is Helen Mort..
The Wordsworth Trust is delighted to announce our new Poet in Residence is Helen Mort. Helen was born in Sheffield and grew up in nearby Chesterfield, and is regarded by the poetry world as a young poet to watch. She has published two short collections with tall-lighthouse press, the most recent, a pint for the ghost, a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. A previous winner of the Foyle Young Poets competition, she received an Eric Gregory Award in 2007 and won the Manchester Young Writer prize in 2008.
She has performed her work at Latitude, the Ledbury Festival and StAnza, and has written a live literature show (also called a pint for the ghost') which will debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010. Her first play Careless Torque was performed in Camden in 2009. As well as a writer, she's a keen fell runner and climber despite living in Cambridge for the past three years where she helped run CB1 Poetry.
Helen takes up residence at the Trust in July 2010, following the departure of Emma Jones. The residency is initially for nine months, with a view to extending it to a year pending confirmation of Arts Council funding. The residency will give Helen time and space to concentrate on developing her first full-length collection.
She will also be taking part fully in the literary life of the Wordsworth Trust and engaging with the local community. She will take over the running of the monthly writing group Dove Cottage Poets and will help the Trust pilot a mentoring scheme, aimed at taking promising writers to the next level. Check our website for other news as Helen's residency take shape.
The residency aims to assist a poet at a significant stage in their career. Adam O'Riordan used the time to write most of his first collection In the Flesh, which has just been published by Chatto, and Emma Jones, who during the time she was with us won a number of awards, started to work towards a second volume. We are all very much looking forward to seeing how Helen grows as a poet while she is with us.
Read Deer by Helen Mort.
