Commonplace - Maria Taylor

When I was about 6 or 7 I had a curious urge to write a book. At that point it was a children's book, I wrote my first on A4 paper with ...

Nice shirt. On a very balmy evening at the end of May – yes, balmy, there was actually sunshine – I went to Leicester’s central libr...

 Always one to get the timings wrong on this blog post, I was thinking about the Jubilee. No, not the Jubilee t...

Alice contemplates the flowers... In the few months which have elapsed between their publication and now, there’s been some very li...

Fiction is Stranger Than Truth (Sometimes). The other week Will Buckingham interviewed me for American webzine 'Necessary Fictio...

 A poet spotted on t'internet Surely a whole month hasn't whizzed by without a blog entry? Crikey me. It was a busy month wit...

Gwyneth Lewis Last week was Cultural Exchanges at DMU. Before it becomes a dim and distant memory I shall try and write up a few blog pos...

I couldn't resist putting these up for your delectation. Here are the covers of the six lucky winners of the Crystal Clear Creators pam...

As it's Burns' Night, here's a lovely stamp It feels like a long time since I've blogged. Actually it's three weeks, ...

I am now on Twitter. To be frank I don't get it. I'm still a Tweeting virgin and feel all clumsy and am not sure what to put where. ...

Bricks or cobbles? At any rate,  tres urban . I am determined to get this post in before 2012; it may be the only constructive piece of w...

This is traditionally the time of year when people put up thoughtful, balanced and considered retrospectives of the year. I'm of moderat...

No, that's a lie. It's only true in a metaphorical sense, and you know how writers like that sort of thing. Ok, I'd like to anno...

 hap•pen•stance [hap-uh n-stans] noun: a chance happening or event. I have a new heroine and her name is Helena Nelson, the chief edit...

I've been nominated for the Leibster blog award by Gary Longden, a lovely initiative to support bloggers with small but perfectly form...

Hearing Voices Issue 4 - Because you're worth it. Doesn't time fly? A busy couple of weeks with some very tip top poetry events ...

I'm very impressed with Ms Winehouse's ability to blend the sounds of a classic Jazz styling with a unique North London idiom. '...

Ok, let's begin. There's quite a lot happening this week. If I could, I'd be catching John Agard at WORD! in Leicester tomorrow,...

I found this the other week and was a very happy bunny to see my poem up on the Guardian online. Thank you, Colette Bryce for selecting my p...

 Jess Mayhew and yours truly, Maria Taylor I've been quiet of late. The last few weeks have seen me head down over a desk wheneve...