Something about the Poet

Judith Nicholls’s poems have been broadcast on BBC Radio for Schools and can be found in over 50 books and 500 anthologies. She has written for the educational press in the U.K. and has appeared on educational videos and poetry programs for schools. She has worked regularly with children and in-service teachers running poetry workshops, readings and talks. Judith has visited hundreds of schools in the U.K., the United States and France. For the past 10 years her poems have been featured in StoryBox.

Judith Nicholls talks about her work:

“I wrote my first poem when I was seven and I think I must have been very pleased with it because I can still remember it by heart! My teacher must have asked us for a poem…”

“I like playing around with words and trying to work out how I want to say things. When I was at school I was very shy and I liked to write things down sometimes rather than talk about them, so I think that’s probably how it all got started! I also think we all like to make something… I like to gather a pile of words and make a poem!”

“I work in the MESSIEST study in England!! Pictures and books all over the walls, papers, pencils, lists, letters, notes and ideas all over the desk and even on the floor sometimes.”

“How do I write my poems? First PANIC! Next, write down as many ideas about subjects as I can – even if some seem crazy at first… you never know… Next, do some research if I need to, to find out more. Next, make a start on the poem… play around with the ideas, the words, change them, cross some out; bring some back, move some… Several pieces of paper and a few days later I might have a poem. It’s messy, hard work but also a lot of fun!”

“I spend a lot of time working on my poems and especially like to play around with the echoes and near-rhymes inside the lines, to add the music: home/dream, mind/sand, gone/alone…”