Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your career/published works or work-in-progress, including your Masters project(s)? 

During my careers in journalism and then with a conservation charity I continued to write, as I had since school, but after rejections from publishers I lost confidence. I stopped showing my poems to anyone. Decades later, creative writing modules with the Open University, the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd Welsh Writers Centre helped me. In 2010 I volunteered to help organise a poetry festival near my home which meant I was able to hear many poets read their work and that fed into my own writing. I gained the confidence to adopt my pen name, Thirza Clout, which gives me freedom to write without worrying about what Virginia Woolf called the angel at my shoulder.

In 2016 I self-published my first pamphlet The Bone Seeker (Mark Time Books UK). In 2018 I was thrilled that then Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy chose my work to be included as a pamphlet in her Laureate’s Choice series, Aunts Come Armed with Welsh Cakes (SmithDoorstop). 

I discovered intriguing family secrets in a suitcase of letters from 1942 and they inspired me. I wanted to improve my craft, my use of form and language, to do the inspiration justice. That is why I applied to do first the MA and then MFA at Manchester Met to enable me to write the collection of  poems which became my MA dissertation and finally my masters project with Manchester Met.

How do you think being part of the Manchester Writing School community has helped your writing career?

After a lot of research into creative writing courses I chose Manchester Met because of its emphasis on fostering creativity and focus on the student’s practice and because the tutors are themselves practising writers.  In addition to the course modules, there are excellent online resources, including the brilliant library, and help and support for students. 

In addition to helping me to work on and improve my poetry, Manchester Met helped me appreciate a wider range of poetry and opportunities. Most of all the discipline and learning from the course mean that I have completed a long sequence of poems which I am now submitting to publishers. I am not sure I would have completed them without the course and its deadlines.  Certainly they would be poorer poems.

What did you find was your most valuable experience as part of the Manchester Writing School? What were the highlights?  

The most valuable experiences were working with excellent tutors and supervisor and forming a community with fellow students which has continued after the course finished. Giving and receiving constructive feedback from fellow poets has been truly rewarding and enjoyable.

What advice would you give to students looking at studying at the Manchester Writing School, or just starting out on the course?  

Think about what you expect from the course and what you bring to it. What do you want to achieve and how will the course help you do that? It is a serious investment in time and money – are you going to give it priority? If you are anxious about sharing your work with fellow students, remember they are probably just as anxious.