Writing With: Beasts, Work, Windows, Mirrors, Music, Jack Gilbert and Mis-placed things, our North Sea Poets 2026 spring course is now available. For all details, and to book, please click below. www.northseapoets.com/courses

Join Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, as well as special guests Alice Oswald and Don Paterson, as they read from a new anthology celebrating the sonnet. Tickets are available now. thecoronettheatre.com/whats-on/poetry-club-paul-muldoon-and-special-guests/

My new piece on Bishop, her Crusoe poem & the perversity of nostalgia. Delighted to be teaching Bishop on our autumn @northseapoets.bsky.social course. open.substack.com/pub/northsea...

I don’t write much on this subject and don’t intend to start, but some of you may know that - while my politics are small ‘s’, small ‘c’ and raging centrist - I’m a longstanding supporter of Scottish independence. I believe Scotland is a country 1/4

@dharmabam.bsky.social with a new class on a radically different approach to metaphor. These tickets will go fast.

“Moments of certainty…but these come adrift or are eroded as the haar slips in. The poem ends with his neighbour still searching the sea for her missing husband. Fog – symbol of loss or removal, of silence and hiatus“ Lesley Harrison @northseapoets.bsky.social substack.com/@northseapoe...

Don’t miss out! Couple of tickets left for this workshop with the brilliant @kathleenjamie.bsky.social

substack.com/@northseapoe... What @northseapoets.bsky.social are reading right now

Hi folks - still tripping over your own feet? last chance to book in for what I hope will be a fun one on friday - clocks, parrots, chet baker and more alternate stress than you can shake a stick at www.northseapoets.com/events/two-d...

Don’t miss out on the first webinar from @dharmabam.bsky.social on the @northseapoets.bsky.social platform. This Friday at an Australia-friendly time. Kilt & beard not included.

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul.” Simone Weil quoted in a beautiful piece by Karen Solie on the @northseapoets.bsky.social substack about beech trees, CD Wright & bearing witness. open.substack.com/pub/northsea...

June’s a way off, but if you want to get in there early – I’ve posted a class at northseapoets I thought might be fun. Basically a whistlestop tour of some of my favourite ‘stuck poet’ resources www.northseapoets.com/events/how-t...

Brilliant piece by Don Paterson @North Sea Poets on AI, the soul and the big (and, frankly, long overdue) reset coming for our art form.

‘Fower Pessoas is a revelation, and shows just how strong Scots poetry can be. … What is exceptional is that Bramwell fashions distinct Scots for Pessoa’s different heteronyms. The chutzpah is amazing.’ Stuart Kelly on brambrella.bsky.social, for @scotsman.com: www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...

if anyone in edinburgh fancies some JAZZ I’m playing with Graeme Stephen at the Scottish Arts Club this friday. apparently having just been informed of the death of a close relative www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/don-paters...

Fabulous new poem from @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social in the latest @poetrylondon.bsky.social. Been thinking about it all morning

So much to love in this new @poetrylondon.bsky.social

@aiannucci.bsky.social & @helenlewis.bsky.social Don Paterson on poetry & public health messaging might be of interest re: Strong Message Here

I wrote this in July 2016 www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...

Just posted a not *entirely serious thing on poetry and public health messaging over at the northseapoets substack open.substack.com/pub/northsea...

open.substack.com/pub/northsea... Delighted to be teaching a workshop on this astonishing book with North Sea Poets. Northseapoets.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/w... Important investigation from the New York Times. The plight of foreign workers in Saudi, UAE & Qatar is a disgrace.

Contemorary UK printmaker Sarah Morgan, 'Follow the path' #WomensArt

we’re going to have to talk sensibly and honestly about the ramifications of this very soon. for literature, for publishing, for the assessment of talent, for the creative writing degree. Anyway - first time I’ve read any AI fiction or poetry and thought: Oh. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Head on over to the North Sea Poets on Substack & our online courses at our website too www.northseapoets.com

“The challenge for liberals of all stripes is a familiar one in dystopian democracies and rigid dictatorships: Live not by lies. Keep your grip on reality. Avoid the propaganda now washing down on you like torrential rain. Find a refuge, as I did on Wednesday — a place where eternal truths endure.”

We need to talk about what's going on with our boys: today's column is on why young men who are struggling deserve a specific policy and cultural focus just as much as young women. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Brilliant new piece. Is there a place for the lyric in this pre-war time? (I appreciate for many in the world the war is now, we’re still “pre” here in Scotland and in Australia. For now).

Poetry Fundamentals - our series of seven classes, each one delivered weekly by a different member of North Sea Poets - starts in April. Only 25 places available. #Poetry #NorthSeaPoets www.northseapoets.com/events/poetr...

And we’re live on Substack too. What is poetry for?

Very proud to be part of this. Launching today for readers and writers. Loads of things at Australia-friendly times, promise! 😉

Introducing North Sea Poets. We run online masterclasses, workshops and webinars for poets and readers in the UK and Ireland (and for early birds and night owls planet-wide). northseapoets.com 🌊 Follow @northseapoets.bsky.social to learn more #NorthSeaPoets #Poetry

Fabulous profile of the great Hugh MacDiarmid from 1972. Let us give thanks to the BBC archive and to all staff over time for preserving the wonder. Beauty, eccentricity, and joy for the viewer. True cultural treasure, right here. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

If you dig poetry and you're in or around Sheffield this Wednesday, it would be great to see you at this event, the latest launch of the outstanding 'Apocalyptic Landscape' anthology. Some fabulous poets reading, and me introducing, and reading a poem or two of my own.

A beautiful new poem for winter solstice

Love the poems of @dseuss.bsky.social Do yourself a favour, get hold of her books.

This is excellent news. Wonderful for Peter, an extremely fine poet, a superb communicator and a braw lad – and great for the Gaelic language.

Wonderful piece by Lesley Harrison in PN Review.

I’m in there too! Not the moat, but the Sverige Radio special. Brilliant to have this attention from our Scandi neighbours. By producer Matts Ottosson.

Brilliant profile, wrangling with the big issues. Not gonna say women's issues coz figuring out how to make children, family and caregiving compatible with women having an inner life is not a niche concern. Love the term "hetero-optimist"

Thank you @felicity-plunkett.bsky.social. I had an echidna neighbour in The Pocket, we have snow and poodles here today in the Cairngorms but no echidna 🦔

Heading to Fife on Saturday for music and fine poetry. And me. www.whatsonfife.co.uk/event/145605...

Love this book. A deserving winner. Wonderful to see such an accomplished writer receiving a big prize. I know that sounds obvious but it’s often not the case.

“Love takes off the mask that we fear we can’t live without, and can’t live within” The wonderful Meshell Ndegeocello (+ Justin Hicks & stunning band) bringing the words of James Baldwin to life at the London Jazz Festival last night ❤️