What got you interested in writing poetry? There was always a great love of language in my home when I was growing up. My parents were enthusiastic readers, and my dad in particular took great pleasure in the sounds of language and words. He would sit me on his knee every night from when I was a tiny toddler, reading stories and poems out loud. I taught myself to read at the age of two, eventually exhausting the children’s section of my local library. Though I didn’t enjoy the study of English Literature at secondary school, I retained that deep internal love of language, holding onto the poetic thread by scribbling song lyrics in the margins of my exercise books. It was a move across the Atlantic in my mid twenties that got me writing properly again; an attempt to fill long empty days and process difficult emotions. Back in the UK, joining the poetry group at my local library encouraged me to share my writing, and it really took off from there. I love how I can capture and distill a f...