British printmaker and illustrator Kate Heiss talks about her creative process and reveals how she approaches book illustration What inspires you? Nature: the flowers and birds in my garden and walks in the countryside. If I’m on a walk and…
Do you love a well-told Yuletide tale? I must admit I do. One of my favourite festive books last year was Tidings: A Christmas Journey by Ruth Padel (Chatto and Windus, 2016). This moving narrative poem has all the hallmarks…
The poetry book Limehaven: Poems for my grandparents has "lots of possibilities for English teachers" according to a recent review in The School Librarian. The book draws on childhood memories and celebrates the special bond between grandparents and children. Reviewer…
I'm excited to announce that my poem Tyne undertow is now available to read online as part of the Poem of the North. Commissioned by the Northern Poetry Library, this unfolding digital artwork serves up a gorgeous smorgasbord of new…
The author David Almond set his third children’s novel Heaven Eyes on the banks of the Ouseburn where it winds down towards the Tyne. The post-industrial wasteland that inspired the book is slowly transforming into something else. People have come…
Robert Stephenson's Rocket has returned home. It stands in pride of place at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle, just a few streets away from Stephenson's works. It is on loan, of course. A star attraction of the Great Exhibition of the…
I’m proud to be contributing to the Poem of the North, a growing online artwork commissioned to celebrate the Northern Poetry Library’s 50th anniversary. The Poem of the North includes the work of fifty selected poets, each writing in a…
Imagine this... It's the hottest day of the year. You are meandering through the hordes of sun-scorched drinkers, eyeing up their ice cold pints, when you spot it. Slap bang in the middle of the village green! A giant ear…