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On Women (Saying) Stuff

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I’m part of a group of called DIY Poets , and since 2016, the women of DIY have been hosting an annual event celebrating International Women’s Day .  This year Women Say Stuff hosted its tenth open mic, and it was a really gorgeous evening, where we had the pleasure of uplifting the voices of local women and raising money for Nottingham-based domestic abuse charity JUNO Women’s Aid .  We sold over 100 tickets to the event, secured local sponsorship to pay our staff and performers, and raised over £600 for our chosen charity! Plus, our lovely audience also donated three bags of period products for women in need, which we donated to Nottingham Women’s Centre .  On the night we had twenty-three women on the open mic, plus two fantastic headline sets from Derby-based poet Aoife O’Connor, and WSS co-founder Clare Stewart! (I especially loved Aoife’s award-winning poem “ A Series of Unrelated Small Things .”) On the open mic, we had a real range of topics from maths and to medu...
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On the Evolution of my Working Week

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I’ve been a full-time freelance writer and educator since March 2022, and it’s a great job. No two days are the same, and I get to work on multiple projects across multiple organisations, with very few strings attached.  Of course, there are downsides. No sick pay or pension, having to do my own taxes, and having periods where I’m not sure where the next job is coming from. But all in all, I think the freelance life suits me pretty well.  But I often speak to people who don’t understand what freelancer life is like. They think it’s a doss, or a holiday, or they think I’m just swanning about, like some sort of poetic lady of leisure. And, while I do my fair share of swanning, my freelancing life is a pretty busy one. So, today I thought I’d share an example of what I get up to in a typical week, to give you an idea of what it’s really like!  Saturday: This week, I’m supporting a poetry open mic night and event for International Women’s Day. We have 120 people booked to att...
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On Asking For It

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Asking For It is a series of images, created by photographer Jayne Jackson , representing people from different eras. In each image, the person is photographed as if in a mugshot, with a board which lists their “crime” or the “reason” they were sexually harassed or assaulted. Viewers are then invited to question the motivations of individuals and societies that would consider these “crimes” provocation enough to justify assault. The exhibition highlights the historic and contemporary attitudes to victim-blaming, especially in cases of sexual and gender-based violence.  Image's from Jayne Jackson's Asking For It series The exhibition is due to go on display at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham in March 2025. As part of the project, I was asked to support some writing workshops, working with Jayne and a small group of women from Broxtowe Women's Project to write letters of support to women experiencing domestic abuse.  We also looked at Mrs Pace's letters , whic...
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On Dancing Underwater

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In my day job, I work with organisations across the arts and charity sectors, supporting people to find their creativity through writing. So, I’m always on the hunt for poems, images and music to use as inspiration for poetry.   And this short film, directed by André Musgrove and choreographed and performed by Ariadna Hafez, really caught my eye.  It’s called The Deepest Dance, and shows Hafez dancing around shipwrecks under the ocean off the coast of Barbados. The film is glorious and the behind the scenes making of video is also well worth a watch!  Here's my poem, inspired by the film:  The Deepest Dance  Waterlogged,  she haunts the wreck. A lithe-limbed phantom  of sea salt circumstance. Slick ocean swirls like a spell, suspended  between surface and sea floor,  twisting through coral-covered ruins;  ships brought low by tide and time.  Submerged metal roughness, red with rust,  this bride of barnacles, gentle as gos...
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On Libraries

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 In 2022, the folks at Inspire Culture, Learning and Libraries asked Paper Crane Poets to write a commissioned poem for their annual general meeting. We spent two months working together on the poem, which includes contributions from nineteen poets from the collective.  The poem was inspired by our individual experiences in local libraries, and all the brilliant projects that Inspire provides to our communities too. This finished piece includes contributions from nineteen poets from the Paper Cranes Collective: Sue Allen; Sonia Burns; Edwina Crowder; Sarah Dale; Laura Grevel; Rose Harvey; David Hunter; William Kummer; Phil Langran; Katey Logan; Andrea Lucy-Hirst; Sue McFarlane; Tara Singh; Leanne Moden; Jade Moore; Rachel Jackson; Gail Webb; and Dave Woods, with additional editing support from Ann Parker. It was a joy to work on this project, and we’re really proud of the finished piece! Beyond the library door In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was  Shhh...
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On Writing Constraints (Merbles)

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Univocalisms were first devised by the Oulipo , a group of writers, artists and thinkers based in Paris in the mid-twentieth century. The Univocalism is one of their most famous inventions: a piece of writing that excludes four out of the five vowel sounds.  Let me explain. For example, if you write an O univocalism, you're not allowed to use any words that include the letters A, E, I, or U, and if you do an E univocalism, you're not allowed to use  any words that include  the letters A, I, O, or U.  It sounds hard (because it is) but it's a fascinating challenge, and I really love it because it can get out of a writing rut, and help you create pieces that you'd never write otherwise! This is my favourite univocalism that I've ever written, and I think I really like it because it's so deeply, unrelentingly silly, and because it breaks the rule that it follows. I'm dead rebellious, me.    Merbles   Yer ersk mer ter explern merserlf  Bert mer rerply...
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On Sharing Your Work (Kingmaker R&D)

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We did it!  In case this is your first time here (Hello!) my name’s Leanne, and normally, I’m a poet. But this year, I’ve been working with a team of creative people on a Research and Development programme for a play that I’ve written.  It’s called Kingmaker and it’s a comedy about good intentions, bad ideas, and finding a place to belong. Our story follows a tour guide in a sleepy rural village, and the problems that arise when an internationally important archaeological specimen is discovered in the local churchyard!  You can read more about my journey through the R&D process in the previous three blogposts .  Last Friday, we invited a selection of cool people to come to see a work in progress version of the show. The audience watched four scenes from the play, and heard from the creative team speak about their ambitions for next steps. Then, we facilitated a Q&A where audience members could give feedback on what they’d seen.  It was a really useful ...
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