I am always pleased to be asked to write a poem.

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.

It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.

It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal

You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart.

I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.