Maggi Hambling, Portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin, 1985, British chemist who deciphered the structure of insulin among many other major achievements, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 #WomensArt

Last night celebrating the launch of ⁦Lydia Unsworth⁩ and ⁦Tom Jenks⁩’s new books with readings from Sally Barrett and myself at the beautiful O!Peste Destroyed in Manchester.

About last night: I wore one of my favourite charity shop dresses.

When Lynne Manchester Art Gallery goes out of her way to show you Doves by Barbara Hepworth. What a joyful visit, it made my day. Thank you, Lynne.

Mini trip to Manchester.

Manchester Central Library where I am reading next week ❤️

Me, BH and Doves.

You can’t imagine my morning: seeing Hepworth and couture in one morning ⁦Manchester Art Gallery⁩ ❤️

I love frills.

I love the way people tell me where to see Barbara Hepworth sculptures. These two are thanks Dr Francesca Brooks

Autumn 2024. Cheap train tickets mean I’m here for most of the season.

Just doing final edits on my commissioned poem for Tootally Wired next week at Manchester Central Library - a poem celebrating my North-West roots, clothes and how they create an armature for grieving and living and loving.

In my supervision meeting yesterday we had a positive discussion about my PhD, and we formed a plan and I told my Supervisor that wearing corduroy and a polo-neck would help me with THE PLAN.

Just had a green tea and a soup and am wearing a huge coat and I am due on. There is a lot of hotness going on.

Tootally Wired 1 week today!   Writers Wendy Allen, Sarah-Clare Conlon, David Gaffney, Tom Jenks, Emily Oldfield, Nicholas Royle and Gary Fisher premiere new work inspired by the Tootal Scarf   Manchester central library 19th September  6 – 8PM eventbrite.com/e/tootally-wir…

Congratulations ⁦charlotte shevchenko knight⁩ on your ⁦Out-Spoken⁩ reading tonight ❤️

Had to leave Out-Spoken early due to travel tiredness and LFW prep tomorrow, but great to see lovely friends, listen to poetry and music.

Off to LFW ❤️

Pre-order now Seren - Portrait in Mustard deliberately puts female desire on a central plinth. There is no anonymity - the speaker of these poems is writing about sex openly and passionately, respecting that for so long, women were not able to do this.

My book Seren ❤️