Showtime! Helping at the @poetryschool.bsky.social MA open day with a table groaning with tutor and graduate publications, and this is just a selection! Glyn Maxwell and Meryl Pugh are running sample seminars, Artistic Director James Trevelyan is here, and @tessafoley.bsky.social islogistics queen.

Spring is officially here! Feeling inspired by golden daffodils? Looking to discover brand new poems? Want to talk poetry in a friendly, welcoming community? Head on down to Reading Circle next Saturday (21st March) at 2pm in The Community Works. Link to register your spot below:

My poem "Osprey" roosting in @mslexia.bsky.social 109 as one of this year's finalists. Thanks to judge Liz Berry for her generous comments. It responds to a Glyn Maxwell prompt to the @poetryschool.bsky.social fam where we drew two of Jaak Panksepp's primal emotions at random: here's Seeking/Grief.

#TheDeeperRead 10 is out today, featuring "Body Language" from Anne Stewart's collection The Janus Hour (Overstep Books). Please like and subscribe if you're so minded: suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper...

#TheDeeperRead 10 drops tomorrow, featuring Anne Stewart's "Body Language" from her Oversteps Books collection The Janus Hour. Please like and subscribe at substack.com/@suzannafitz..., it's free!

Looking forward to reading with and for @reddoorpoets.bsky.social on Sunday 29th March. Online, free, just register via Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/red-door-p...

This month we're publishing Among Communists by Sinéad Morrissey!💥 Get 15% off your paperback copy when you use the code MARCHBOOKS15: tinyurl.com/4rre4922 We've also teamed up with No Alibis Bookstore to create a limited edition signed hardback: noalibis.com/product/amon... Get your copy now!⭐

Writing a poem about meeting Hieronymus Bosch in a pub and very much leaning into this vibe. Why are we meeting? We have big plans. If I publish the poem, you'll find out. Might take it to Glyn Maxwell's @poetryschool.bsky.social MA grad seminar on Monday so it can be appropriately eviscerated ;)

#TheDeeperRead 9 is up! As this week sees the birthday of Edward Thomas, it features his poem "Aspens", from the excellent @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social edition. Please like and subscribe, it's free: suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper...

#TheDeeperRead 9 drops tomorrow, featuring "Aspens" by Edward Thomas. Highly recommend the @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social edition. The companion piece is my poem "This spring", given First Prize by Daljit Nagra in the Edward Thomas Competition. suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com, please like and subscribe!

Stunning art, stunning essay.

My book, PRESENCE: A Hidden History of the Female Body is out in June with Cape in the UK and with Astra House in the US. If you're an editor / reviewer / etc, let me know if you'd like to be on the list for an advance copy.

Edward Thomas was born on 3 March 1878. In celebration, I'm going to feature his poem "Aspens" on #TheDeeperRead this week. I usually post about contemporary poets, but will occasionally go off-piste! Highly recommend this stunning edition from @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social.

Thank you Sarah Howe for these wonderful words about @betarish.bsky.social's upcoming #poetry collection, Cherry Blossom at Nightbreak 🌸 Inventive, dazzling wit, "turns delight towards serious ends." "Full of heart and hope." Line up your copy: ninearchespress.com/publications...

So happy to be a finalist in this year's Mslexia competition, and you can read my poem, "Osprey", in issue 109 along with all the others - congrats to the winners and all the finalists! Huge thanks to @mslexia.bsky.social and judge Liz Berry.

Parka/beanie/velvet/choker mash-up for the Edward Thomas Fellowship's AGM, which included a walk to his former home. It was a privilege to read my poem "This spring", huge thanks again to the Fellowship and to Daljit Nagra for awarding it first prize: edward-thomas-fellowship.org.uk/the-edward-t....

Every poem speaks of lived experience of caring, something undervalued and ignored by a society that prefers not to think about illness. It's easy not to understand something if one hasn't experienced it. Poetry matters because it can communicate this experience in a visceral way.

This beautiful book from Black Pear Press launched 26 Feb; it was a privilege to read with so many wonderful poets. Copies from blackpear.net/authors-and-..., all profits go to St. Richard's Hospice. Huge thanks to editors Charley Barnes and @clairewalkerpoetry.bsky.social for doing an amazing job.

Stoked to be Commended by @victoria.kennefick in the @verve.poetry.festival @verve.publisherofpoetry competition. I'll be reading at the online showcase, 11am Sun 10 May: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/verve-poet... and you can pre-order the anthology here: www.vervepoetrybookshop.com/product-page...

Are you watching Dirty Business? I can't believe how much water companies have gotten away with. They're putting profit before public health - it’s a scandal and the Government MUST take action! Sick of sewage? Add your name to the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...

#TheDeeperRead 8 features "Palace" by @poetryschool.bsky.social MA tutor @merylpugh.bsky.social, paired with my poem "Bushfires" from the @mindsshinebright.bsky.social anthology Light and Shadow, edited by @wattlelight.bsky.social. suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper... free to subscribe.

I can't go to this tomorrow because I'd never get back from Portsmouth in time for school run, but if you can, go! @tessafoley.bsky.social is a scintillating poet & a warm & intuitive workshop leader. You will write poems & you'll definitely have fun. Tickets from: wegottickets.com/event/682850...

Dropping tomorrow, #TheDeeperRead 8 features "Palace" by @poetryschool.bsky.social MA tutor @merylpugh.bsky.social from her Laurel Prize-longlisted book Natural Phenomena from Penned in the Margins. A perfect example of how to own the sonnet form in the C21st.

Did you know that our flagship magazine, Under the Radar, is available as a single copy or part of a 4-copy subscription, in print or digital? Full of new #poetry, short fiction & reviews to discover. Don't miss out, let it land in your inbox or onto your doormat: ninearchespress.com/shop#!/Under...

I'll be reading at February's Third Table tomorrow along with a host of talent from the @poetryschool.bsky.social MA. Might break out some new sword fighting poems ⚔️ 7pm, upstairs at The Cheshire Cheese, 5 Little Essex St, WC2R 3LD. Free! MC is Glyn Maxwell.

My latest book is Permanence, written with Stephen Paul Wren, a surreal dive into the world of microplastics. @betarish.bsky.social said: 'a series of striking reflections on plastic, how it has shifted from wonder substance to menace.' Published by Atomic Bohemian. DM me for a signed copy.

Delighted to publish a piece on the @poetryschool.bsky.social blog about the MA in Writing Poetry graduation at @newcastleuni.bsky.social. Great quote from @imtiazdharker.bsky.social: "Step into the radiance of who you are." A radical act. poetryschool.com/theblog/ma-g...

#TheDeeperRead 7: "Vanishing Point" by fellow @poetryschool.bsky.social MA alumna Sandra Galton from 'Shadow Selves', Green Bottle Press. An ekphrastic sestina, formally & psychologically complex. Read here for free: suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper... - please like & subscribe!

#TheDeeerRead issue 7 drops on Friday - substack.com/@suzannafitz... .This week it's fellow @poetryschool.bsky.social MA alumna Sandra Galton's "Vanishing Point", a psychologically deft and complex ekphrastic sestina. Stunning piece from Galton's pamphlet 'Shadow Selves' from Green Bottle Press.

Although audience response is not an infallible guide to the value of your poetry, if you read between the lines of what people say, their hidden feedback can be useful. Pic: Le roman de la rose, c. 1390, MS. e Mus. 65, f. 130v, The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

A trip to Cumbria beckons.

OUT NOW. Issue twenty-three: 'Wildfires' badlilies.uk/issue-twenty-three

#TheDeeperRead issue 6: "The family tartan", by fellow @poetryschool.bsky.social grad @revkevwrites.bsky.social: suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper.... Like tartan, this poem is expertly woven of different hues in its warp and weft, and also wove itself into my week as I considered it.

Rollercoaster week, lots of poetic ups and downs #poetlife but here I am with a rare free hour waiting for my youngest (not driving!) writing poems about sword fighting. Because there are always words. And also longswords, those beautiful bitches ❤️🗡️

This week's #TheDeeperRead drops 8am Friday and features "The family tartan" by fellow Poetry School MA graduate Kevin Scully, which won the inaugural Ashdown Forest Poetry Prize in 2024. Please subscribe and share if you like, it's free! open.substack.com/pub/suzannaf...

I've a Bohemian-Rhapsody-inspired poem in the Best Songs of All Time anthology, coming soon from @yaffles-nest.bsky.social, so it's great to see the book featured in this week's The Verb with Ian McMillan. You can listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

#TheDeeperRead issue 5, featuring Glyn Maxwell's "The Ledge" from 'How The Hell Are You' from Picador books. Vibing much memento mori; think I wrote a bit of my own midlife crisis into this one ;) Please subscribe and share if you like, it's free! suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper...

The next issue of #TheDeeperRead drops on Fri 6 Feb at 8am, featuring "The Ledge" by Glyn Maxwell from his @tseliotprize.bsky.social-shortlisted book 'How The Hell Are You', available from Picador. Please subscribe and share if you fancy it - it's free! substack.com/@suzannafitz...

Honoured that my poem, "Manicure", first published in my collection 'Crippled', is in 'Craft of Care' from Black Pear Press. Editors @clairewalkerpoetry.bsky.social & Charley Barnes have curated such an important book. Online launch 25 Feb 6.30pm, sign up on FB. blackpear.net/.../charley-...

Great @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social event last night hosted by @zoebrooks.bsky.social & @annasaund.bsky.social. Cracking readings from @eveellis14.bsky.social & Isabelle Baafi & open-mics. I read this from my book 'Crippled'. Solidarity to all mourning a loss. www.redsquirrelpress.com/product-page...

Great to be shortlisted in this year's WoLF Poetry Competition, thanks to @pandemonialists.bsky.social for organising and to judges @helenivory.bsky.social and @martinfigura.bsky.social . Congrats to the winners! pandemonialists.co.uk/wolves-lit-f...

The forgotten Alexandria: Rediscovering a lost metropolis on the Tigris www.heritagedaily.com/2026/02/the-...

#TheDeeperRead issue 4 is now up: suzannafitzpatrick.substack.com/p/the-deeper... . Featuring a poem by Sarah Gibbons from her cracking pamphlet "I Go to the Devil", which won the @wigtownbooktown.bsky.social 2024 Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize. DM her on Insta @pulluppoet if you'd like to buy a copy.

Third Table after party with Sarah Gibbons, Glyn Maxwell, Lauren Thomas and Olha Shvets.

Mellow after the Third Table reading with the @poetryschool.bsky.social MA fam. Total joy to compere this lot, they slap. Shamelessly nicked an idea from @bradleytaylorpoet.bsky.social and took a line from each reader to make a poem. Note to self: don't do whilst MCing. My brain nearly exploded.

One year after my partial right knee replacement. I am so grateful to be fully recovered, but running is no longer sensible for me. I mourn it, but just started Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) with Gabor Antali. I was made so welcome, and got to wield a longsword. I can sense poems brewing!

Tonight! I'm MCing and also reading, along with Glyn Maxwell, Sarah Gibbons and current and former students of the @poetryschool.bsky.social MA. Free, all welcome!

Chuffed to be Commended by Patrick Cotter in the @munsterlitcentre.bsky.social Southword Editor's Poetry Award for my poem "Figurine and Candle", which will be published this summer in Southword issue 50 with the other winners and Commendeds. munsterlit.ie/southword-ed...

TODAY, Friday January 23rd, 2026: We are ALL residents of Minnesota. We ALL want #ICE_OutForGOOD 🚫 🧊 Also: #ICE_OUT4ReneeGood 💔