As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was a great moment to see my first poems published. It felt like entering a tradition.

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel with intimately.

I have learned so much from working with other poets, travelling and reading with them, spending days discussing poems in progress. There is the sense that we are all, as writers, part of something which is more powerful than any of us.

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’t work, throw it away.

i wish i was away in Ingo far across the briny sea sailing over deepest waters where neither care nore worry trouble me

When you are young you don't always realise how full of doubts everybody is.