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What should come through my door this morning but a rather special piece of luxurious card with my name on it! Indeed, I’ve recently qualified for a PG Certification in Teaching Creative Writing. What does this mean? That I can offer a variety of classes and workshops, and as an attendee or event organiser, you can rest assured that I’m truly invested in developing skills, boosting the confidence of young writers and nurturing a love of the written word.

You needn’t be a seasoned poetry-writer to partake in any sessions I facilitate – the beauty of creative writing is it can be adapted to a great many settings, participants and requirements. Here are just a few classes I can offer:

• Writing for mindfulness – a pressure-free run through of various strategies which can be employed for happy scribbling time
• Poetry mentoring/feedback sessions – hone your work, share with others and develop your craft
• Poetry analysis – learn more about traditional and contemporary poetry and how it relates to you
• WordArt poetry collage workshop – a great group activity, suited to schools, youth settings and ideal for ice-breaker corporate sessions
• Tips and tricks for better performance – relates to all kind of public speaking and confidence boosting!

Do get in touch for more information!

Poetry is often a highly effective balm when working through the difficult things in life, as Jules Whiting and I have found in the creation of our new petit-pamphlet ‘What colour is my brain?’, released by Hedgehog Poetry Press this month.

Meeting through our poetry group Thin Raft, Jules and I happened to connect over our shared experience of having an Electroencephalogram (or EEG), and the fact that we were both compelled to write about this.

We were thrilled to win Hedgehog Press’ stickleback competition with our joint endeavour, and even more delighted to see our four poems presented so beautifully in the trademark Hedgehog format.

This little pamphlet means such a lot to us. It’s about turning a negative into a positive. It’s about the power of imagination to go beyond and create something ‘other’, something positive, something that connects and is relatable.

I am so very proud of this gorgeous little book. Mark Davidson, editor of Hedgehog, has worked his magic, and I can’t wait to share the result. I’m proud of what it stands for, and to have my name on the cover next to my friend, Jules, a hugely talented poet and wonderful human being.

What a privilege 😊

If you would like to order a copy, priced at £3 including P&P, email vicpickup@gmail.com.

I have the great privilege of hosting a gorgeous little open mic once a month on a Friday lunchtime, on behalf of Poets’ Café online. All who come are gifted, warm and receptive to the work of others, hence why I feel blessed to be a part of this monthly poetry meet.

One of our regular readers is the talented Karen Izod, whose work I have come to greatly admire. The sharp observation and poignancy typical of Karen’s poetry lingers long after it is heard. And so, when she arrived to one online session with a rather beautiful little book in hand, I was keen to know more.

Karen was one of two winners of Coast to Coast to Coast’s fourth poetry prize in 2021, with 35 of her limited edition journals created this year.

Bright and beautifully crafted, each of Karen Izod’s ‘While there is hope’ editions is a work of art, with the design, creation and stitch from the fair hands of Maria Isakova Bennett. My admiration of these books goes further than aesthetics, with Karen’s poems every bit as lovingly formed – precise, contemplative and powerful – this short series of poems is a bundle of perfection.

As her preface, Karen explains that early in the pandemic, when so little was known about the virus, she found herself exploring ideas of how hope sustains, what we hold on to in ourselves and in the world and questioning how long we can hold out for something before we give up or allow in feels of despair.  As the pandemic continued with feelings of being trapped, coerced, or caught up in much larger environmental concerns, themes of loss and change, questions of how we might bring ourselves to these changes, and what we might see as progress emerged.

For more information, visit https://www.mariaisakova.com/coast-to-coast-to-coast-news and https://twitter.com/MariaIzaB1/status/1479212780100198402

As my youngest heads off to her first year in school, I too am preparing for a return to education with sharpened pencils and packed lunch in tow.

I’m thrilled to be starting a part-time PhD at Reading University this September, working in the English Literature department, but more specifically embedded in the Mills & Boon archives which are (fortunately for me!) located within the University’s special collections.

The University has very generously funded my course, to enable the continuation of my running local poetry events and raising the profile of poetry and creative writing within our communities.

I’m also very fortunate to be spending much of my time at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), poring over the M&B collection, consisting of some 75,000 documents. I think if I read very fast, I can get through them in a year… 🙂

These archives are full of correspondence between publisher and authors, and only 10 boxes in (out of 100), I am already enraptured, and the poems are beginning to flow.

Not a moment of this privilege is wasted on me. I am determined to make this project of discovery count, revealing untold stories, awakening characters stowed in boxes, seeing what can be created from this rich source of history. Watch this space!