Dawn Gorman believes poetry should be everywhere - puts it on beermats, uses it to
work with people with memory loss, facilitates writing workshops, organises poetry
events and runs international poetry competitions. She is widely published, and has
performed in New York, Paris, London - and lots of smaller places in between.

“Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket;
you put your life into it and make something out of that.” Mary Oliver

Emily Wills

Guest Poet: Emily Wills

Emily Wills has two collections, Diverting the Sea (2000) and Developing the Negative (2008), and a pamphlet, Unmapped (2014), all published by The Rialto. Her work was shortlisted for the 2012 Manchester poetry prize, and has been commended in the Troubadour and Hippocrates competitions. She won the Frogmore prize in 2012 and 2013. She lives in Gloucestershire where she works as a GP.

28th September 2015, The Swan Hotel, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire BA15 1LN

A busy Words & Ears September at the Swan in Bradford on Avon drew to an entertaining and thought-provoking close on Monday with a superb reading in the Cellar Bar from our headliner Emily Wills. U A Fanthorpe said of Emily's first collection that her poetry is "domestic and disturbing", and there was certainly a sense of looking at 'home life' through a mischievous and deeply probing pair of eyes. But Emily also treated us to a satisfying exploration of 'The Manly Poem' (a reaction to one - male - poet's suggestion that some things are not worthy material to appear in poems); sent us off to pick onions; gave us 29 ways of looking at a receipt for pink shoes, and ended on her witty mix of James Bond and life in Malawi. Which all made for hugely rewarding listening - and our open mics were also rich and varied. Thanks to everyone who read and listened - especially to Paul for his topical moon poems and Linda for her memorable Unknown Soldier poem, and well done to Janet on her very impressive first public reading.