The Working Class Poet

This piece first appeared on Wales Arts Review in May 2018 as part of their series on working class voices in the arts in Wales.   Sophie McKeand’s two-year-tenure as Young People’s Laureate for Wales comes to an end shortly. Here in the latest instalment of the Wales Arts Review series looking at working class voices […]

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What is the Role of the Poet in Society?

This piece first appeared on Wales Arts Review in December 2016. What is the role of a poet in modern society? Sophie McKeand writes about the overwhelming challenge facing artists today: to speak up or stay silent? The Politics of Authenticity I’m writing this at 5.30am on a Friday morning. Later today will involve catching the train to […]

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I Am Taliesin

I’m going to post some pieces written for other publications here over the next few weeks, so that they’re all in one place. I’m going to start with I Am Taliesin, which first appeared on the Dark Mountain blog as part of their ‘The Mythos We Live By’ series.  This week we continue ‘The Mythos We […]

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Nationwide Poets

As the Nationwide adverts using poets continue to cause controversy I thought I’d repost this piece from earlier in the year first published on Sabotage Review.  Perhaps it was the Kolkata heat, or the second glass of red, or impatience to head out that forced a knee-jerk ‘I’ll do it’ to Claire Trévien’s FB post […]

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Oriel Davies Open Writing Competition 

I’m delighted to be judging the Oriel Davies Open Writing Competition along with the lovely and talented Chris Kinsey. Closing date 4th November. If you’ve read Rebel Sun you’ll know I’ve had a slight obsession with writing about water (dŵr) for some time so I’m really looking forward to reading the submissions! 

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Poetry and the National Trust

Over the last week I’ve been fortunate enough to work with local young people at two National Trust properties: Tredegar House in Newport and Chirk Castle, on the north Wales border. Organised and facilitated by Literature Wales as part of the Young People’s Laureateship, each residency lasted two days and a lot of fun was […]

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On Growing & Writing

I was born to the sound of starlings murmurating across the north Wales coastline. The Rebel Sun rode low in an early February sky as the Irish Sea gnawed across my ribcage. My hair was knotted seaweed. Water swelled sand dunes into my belly & a flock of seagulls took up residence in my mouth. […]

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Social Care

I’ve been working with a mix of social care students and people in the community this week at Glyndwr University. We’ve had a great time exploring creativity through poetry and I’ve been delighted with the results. This project is very much the brainchild of Liz Lefroy, a well-respected poet and lecturer who works hard to […]

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Rebel Sun

Rebel Sun is here! Can’t believe it’s finally happened. This beautiful hardback book was designed by my partner Andy Garside and I can’t thank my publisher, Parthian Books, enough for all of their support.  Buy the book from Parthian here.  Or catch me at an event over the coming months – listed here.  Thank you […]

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Poet on tour

Poet on tour. Gig dates. I’m so excited to be at Port Eliot Festival this summer on the Caught by the River stage but Cornwall is a reeeeeaallly long way from Wrexham so if anybody can help with additional gigs/readings/events for Rebel Sun while I’m in Cornwall or on the way home I’d be hugely […]

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