In 2014 I was chosen by London's Writer Development Agency Spread the Word to be the 'City Read Young Writer in Residence', a residency that took place in Soho. I spent a month there, teaching workshops and researching. I spent time with the people who live and work there, learned the history of the neighbourhood and paid attention to the ways it feels to be in Soho - the geographical centre of the centre of London - day and night.

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Spread the Word commissioned me to write 24 poems springing from this residency, one for each hour of the clock, and each set in a different part of the neighbourhood. Curious Hands was the result, a part-fantasy, part-observational journal of a writing residency, and a love letter to a wonderful part of town.

 

As a result of my time in Soho, I became the co-editor of local paper the Soho Clarion for a year. An archive of all Clarions, past and present are online here.  

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Curious Hands was a special commission and is no longer in print, but to order a copy please send me an email.