Bodies, histories, treasures and mysteries. Our peatlands are ready to reveal their truths — let’s listen to them. And write about them! Join us TOMORROW MORNING for at 10AM (yes, this is the FINAL CALL!) for our next Writing Bogwise session. Book here. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deep-peat-...

The bog is calling. Two more sleeps until the next Writing Bogwise, ‘Deep Peat: The Bog as a Living Archive’. Click here to book your place at what will be a fabulously fun, peaty, generative writing workshop. shawandmoore.substack.com/p/chronic-co...

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deep-peat-... You can also find the link here.😊

Wild Writing with Clare Shaw and Miriam Darlington: a different wild topic every day in June. Book now, here: thewritingschool.co.uk/writing-

I've written lots about my mental health, but it feels, weirdly, more exposing to write about physical health difficulties. Anyway, here's a thing I wrote about hypermobility and the impact it's had on my life. shawandmoore.substack.com/p/chronic-co...

Join us for the next Writing Bogwise session, ‘Deep Peat: The Bog as a Living Archive’. Peatlands aren’t only a vital ecosystem — they hold our histories. Scan the QR code to book your place on this fun, generative workshop. Can’t make it? No problem. A recording will be shared for ticket holders.

9 days to go until the next Writing Bogwise, ‘Deep Peat: The Bog as a Living Archive’. You can absolutely attend this workshop as a one-off…but why not join us for the rest of the series? We’ve only just begun! Scan the QR code, or follow the link, for more. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deep-peat-...

Fancy starting each day in June with a writing workshop looking at different aspects of nature? From Moss, to hedgehogs, to tardigrades, come and explore the natural world with @clareshawpoet.bsky.social and Miriam Darlington. thewritingschool.co.uk/writing-

6 days left to book your place for our next Writing Bogwise session, ‘The Bog as a Living Archive’. Let’s time travel. Scan the QR code to book your place — or follow the link. Why not unveil more ghost voices? Sign up for the series and come to the rest of the Writing Bogwise workshops…

9 days to go until the next Writing Bogwise, ‘Deep Peat: The Bog as a Living Archive’. You can absolutely attend this workshop as a one-off…but why not join us for the rest of the series? We’ve only just begun! Scan the QR code, or follow the link, for more. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deep-peat-...

Something to celebrate. Both Green.

I voted Green. I’m already tired of being blamed for the fact that Reform has won seats. There are so many reasons that Reform has won seats. The fact that some people like me felt so deeply and profoundly letdown by Labour that they could no longer vote for them is just one of those reasons.

Three problems with Writing Bogwise workshops: - I wish I was attending them rather than running them - they only happen once a month - they make me buzz for the rest of the day Bog bodies, ritual offerings, organic records and lost histories. Recorded. Scan the QR code to book your place.

Wild Writing June starts on 1ST JUNE, and you’re all invited to what will be a magical month of nature writing. Buy tickets here. Still lots of options, including concession rate tickets available, and a couple of weeks left to apply for bursary places.🌳🌼🌬️🦋 thewritingschool.co.uk/writing-?fbc...

My latest Substack, on midnight bluebells, finding your flock, and your free link to the online launch of The House of Broken Things (which you really do not want to miss!). shawandmoore.substack.com/p/different-...

Olivia Tuck is my poetry admin support worker, and an absolute godsend. In a just few hours each week, she’s transformed my neurodivergent chaos into order, with kindness, patience and a lot of laughter. If you’re interested, Olivia has availability. Find her on Instagram @livtuckreadsandwrites

It's Kim Moore's Book Launch Day!!! "The House of Broken Things" is an extraordinary book which explores parenthood with unique vision, depth and skill - every page takes your breath away. Here's my poem for Kim. Happy Book Day, @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social

Tomorrow afternoon, 3pm, Wainsgate Chapel, Hebden Bridge. The fabulous other half of Shaw and Moore will be launching her new collection The House of Broken Things, and I’ll be a guest reader. Buy tickets here to join us at what will be a really special event. www.ticketsource.com/wainsgate/ki...

This is "Lichen on a Rock" by John Ruskin, who called lichen a "tender honour". Anna Chilvers and I have written about him alongside curlews, pushchairs, and diversity in nature writing; how truly, actually seeing something can be an act of love. blogsandbogs.substack.com/p/stop-look-...

I'm working with the The Writing School and Miriam Darlington throughout June to run daily writing sessions on subjects like otters and owls, edgelands and eco-warriors, gardening and grief More info plus daily, weekly, or monthly tickets available via this link: thewritingschool.co.uk/writing-

Together with the Poetry Society, I'm running this workshop - Poetry of Restoration and Repair - this Tuesday 28th April at 6.30pm. Hope to see you there!

Wishing everyone a happy Earth Day 2026. “Our power, our planet" is this year's theme — action, no matter how imperfect, is better than none. Last year Anna Chilvers and I curated "The Book of Bogs". We'll be reading from it tonight at 7pm if you fancy coming along: readingbogwise1.eventbrite.co.uk

You’ve heard of Writing Bogwise, now get ready for Reading Bogwise! A series of online talks about moors, marshes, mires and mosses. First session on 22nd April. Scan the QR code to book your place.

Saturday on Borth bog.

NaPoWriMo Day 19. The prompt today was to write a poem based on Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers.

NaPoWriMo Day 18. Today’s prompt was to write “a section or piece of an epic poem: including rhyme, unlikely and dramatic scenes, gladiators and mermaids. I wrote this.

NaPoWriMo Day 17. The prompt was to "respond to a favorite poem by another poet". I spent most of the day trying to decide on my favourite poems before eventually getting round to writing this.

NaPoWriMo Day 16. Today’s prompt was “describe something that cannot speak, and what it has taught or told you”. On the subject of bogs — fellow bog lovers: if you haven’t signed up for Writing Bogwise, or visited Anna Chilvers’ and my ‘b(l)og’ yet, see my Linktree: linktr.ee/clareshawpoet

NaPoWriMo Day 15. Today’s prompt was to write a poem “that muses on love, but isn’t a traditional love poem”. this isn’t the poem I intended to write, but as usual, I started writing too late to start again, so here’s a “Portrait of Love as the A6033”.

NaPoWriMo Day 14. Instarted writing this after midnight and completely failed to produce anything in repsonse to today’s prompt “to write a poem that bridges the seeming divide between poetry and technological advances”, so instead here’s a tiny poem in praise of failure.

NaPoWriMo Day 13. Had a long and challenging day so this is a ten minute free write in response to the prompt: "write about a remembered, cherished landscape".

NaPoWriMo Day 12. I struggled with today's prompt — "a memory of a beloved relative, and something they did that echoes through your thoughts today". Eventually I wrote this little thing about my rat Joey (after Christopher Smart).

My latest Substack — on NaPoWriMo, the Wells Poetry Competition, and how sometimes I write my best stuff when I don't want to write a word. Read here, and if you haven’t subscribed to Shaw and Moore yet, please do. Kim and I would love to have you. shawandmoore.substack.com/p/a-beautifu...

NaPoWriMo Day 11. The prompt today was to “write your own erasure/ blackout poem”. I love erasures; they are just like colouring-in time for poets.I used a dark poem from my next collection, “How to be a reliable witness” and used erasure to reveal a blessing hidden inside it.

NaPoWriMo Day 10. I started some new meds today which make me so tired I feel drunk. Today’s prompt was to write a short poem about grief, with a repeated question, so here's a very quick effort.

My Poetry Business Haunted Poetry workshop is BACK on 14th April at 11am! In this friendly space, we’ll embrace the haunted spaces of the poem: gothic ruins, shadowy houses, and the haunted landscape of memory and the subconscious. Boo-k your place here.👻 www.tickettailor.com/events/thepo...

NaPoWriMo Day 9. Today's prompt was to "try writing your own poem in the voice of an animal or plant". Given my last post, it was only fair to write in the voice of a creature from Hieronymous Bosch's Garden of Eden.

#napowrimo Day 8. The prompt tonight was to “use a simple phrase repeatedly, and then make statements that invert or contradict that phrase”. To read today’s poem — and to keep up to date with all my NaPoWriMo poems to come — follow me on Instagram @clareshaw1

Day 7 of NaPoWriMo. Tired today, and I didn’t like the prompt. Instead, I saw a brief definition I’d written a while back and I carried it on, and I could probably carry on for ages, but here’s where I got to.

Next Wednesday — 15th April, 10am—12pm — Anna Chilvers and I’ll be running our second Writing Bogwise workshop: Stop! Look! Listen! Walk with us into moors, mires and marshes, and explore how close and careful observation can be an act of love and transformation Scan the QR code to book your place.

Three bottles left behind in a very well-dug tip - including an intact codd bottle from Halifax, a 1920’s Hills bottle from Padiham, and a 1930’s Tizer! And one Robinson’s Barley Water found whilst walking in woodland, probably from the 1940s.

Three bottles left behind in a very well-dug tip - including an intact codd bottle from Halifax, a 1920’s Hills bottle from Padiham, and a 1930’s Tizer! And one Robinson’s Barley Water found whilst walking in woodland, probably from the 1940s.

Found this week. These are some of the pieces I love best; others have gone into a bucket of shards for Alice Wolfe’s mosaics. They will now join my family of broken things. In case you’re wondering, the platignum object is a Bakelite pen stand with ashtray. Probably from the 1940’s.

Stop! Look! Listen! On 15th April, 10-12 an online writing workshop with Anna Chilvers and me. After the session, a recording and written copies of all writing prompts are sent to all participants. writingbogwise2.eventbrite.co.uk

Happy April! IT'S NOT RAINING and I can hear curlew and lapwing from my house. For a gentle, reflective five minutes, here's a lyric essay from me and Anna Chilvers on how we shape place and how place shapes us. blogsandbogs.substack.com/p/the-bog-an...

"I see you. I hear you". Truly seeing and listening can be the most profound, transformative experience. On 15th April, Anna Chilvers and I host this workshop on bogs and "The Art of Close of Observation". Link below. writingbogwise2.eventbrite.co.uk

A rainy weekend ahead, so treat yourself to a warm, cosy morning of writing poetry at home. 50% proceeds go to Full of Joy animal sanctuary, who took in this little fella when he needed help.

A rainy weekend ahead, so treat yourself to a warm, cosy morning of writing poetry at home. 50% proceeds go to Full of Joy animal sanctuary, who took in this little fella when he needed help.

There’s still time for you join Hannah Hull and me at this poetry and visual art experience on 25th March, looking at ‘The Haunted House of the Poem’. Who doesn’t love a ghost story?👻 Click below to boo-k your place. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-haunte...

Here's my latest substack, on writing a blurb for your own poetry, pulling your own oars and drinking your own wine. It's free to access, just click the link. shawandmoore.substack.com/p/pulling-yo...