Ben Wilkinson

About a year ago, Emily Berry kindly invited me to take part in 'The Next Big Thing', a series of interview-type things about new writing projects. You can find out more about her book of poems, Dear Boy , published by Faber and winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, here . Back in 2013 I didn't have much to crow about, but since then I was lucky enough to win the Poetry Business Competition , judged by Carol Ann Duffy, for my second pamphlet of poems, For Real , which is due out this Saturday (31 May 2014). So I guess now that I do, a reprise of sorts is in order. Here's the lowdown. What is the working title of your book? My second pamphlet of poems, out this month, will be called For Real . Where did the idea for the book come from? It’s a short book of poems, so there isn’t the one idea as such. A lot of the poems riff on personal experience – relationship break-ups, travel, clinical depression, falling in love, and a lifel

POETRY IN MOTION Why one Reds supporter is committing his love for Liverpool FC to verse Liverpool FC and poetry have a lot of previous – from John Toshack’s Gosh It’s Tosh collection in the late 70s, to the verse of Dave Kirby and Peter Etherington in the fanzine Red All Over the Land , to the lines written by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, a University of Liverpool graduate, in the aftermath of 2012’s Hillsborough findings. Now there’s Ben Wilkinson, Reds fan and book critic for The Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement , who’s compiling a series of poems commemorating the club’s legends. “Football is part of the fabric of life, and anything that’s important to people finds its way into poetry,” he says. “Wilfred Owen’s poem 'Disabled' describes a soldier who loses the use of his legs, meaning he can never play football again. Philip Larkin’s 'MCMXIV' compares boys queuing to join the army to fans outside Villa Park. These poems have stood th

In March and April of this year respectively, I ran the Sheffield Varsity 10K and the Sheffield Half Marathon to raise money for Mind , the mental health charity. Below is the email I scribbled, after months of hard training and completing both events, to those friends, family and acquaintances who were kind enough to dig deep and sponsor me. If, after reading, you're able to do the same, or just want to make a donation to Mind, you can check out the link to the charity's website here , or else visit my JustGiving page . Cheers. Hi all, This'll be the last of these mail-outs - just wanted to let you all know how I got on in both the Sheffield Varsity 10K (23 March) and the Sheffield Half Marathon (6 April), all to raise money for the excellent charity Mind . The Varsity 10K was a great little event - 352 runners took part on a sunny Sunday morning, the whole thing organised by a great team of University and Hallam students. Three laps of an undulat

Blackwell's Poetry Reading @ Blackwell University Bookshop ( Mappin St, Sheffield , off West Street) featuring three poets: Niall Campbell , Kris Anderson, and Ben Wilkinson   Wednesday 14th May, 6.30pm - 8.30pm free entry / refreshments, with poets' books on sale including Niall Campbell's debut collection Moontide (Bloodaxe Books), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation email: sheffield@blackwell.co.uk for further details / queries Niall Campbell is a Scottish poet originally from South Uist in the Western Isles. He received an  Eric Gregory Award  (2011) and a  Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship (2011). Niall also won the Poetry London Competition in 2013.  His first pamphlet,  After the Creel Fleet , was released in 2012 by Happenstance Press. Moontide , his first collection, is published by Bloodaxe and is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Kris Anderson is studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at Newcastle Unive