Guest Poet: Julia Deakin

Julia Deakin was born in Nuneaton and worked her way north to Yorkshire via Shropshire, the Potteries and Manchester. A compelling reader, she has won numerous prizes and featured twice on Poetry Please. Her collections are praised by leading UK poets. 'Crafted, tender poems, written with passion and purpose,' said Simon Armitage of her first; her latest, Sleepless (Valley Press 2018) is commended by Gillian Clarke. When not writing, or editing Pennine Platform, Julia enjoys walking and ice skating.

Guest Poet: Jackie Wills

Jackie Wills has spent her working life as a journalist, editor and teacher. She's a lifetime member of the National Union of Journalists, former Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the universities of Surrey and Sussex and a Lector, leading reading groups in Brighton and in hospital for young people with mental health problems. Wills' work as a tutor includes projects for multinational corporations, orchestras, museums, a children's secure unit, refugees, homeless people, older people and substance misusers. She has collaborated with many artists and long-term with Jane Sybilla Fordham and Fabrica Gallery in Brighton. She's organised poetry events and fundraisers, has had an allotment for more than 20 years and in 2019 worked with the Garden Museum and RHS at Wisley. Wills has published short stories, a handbook on how to run writing workshops and has been blogging since 2005. Her most recent collection of poems is A Friable Earth (Arc, 2019).
Photo: Giya Makondo-Wills