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carolinebirduk.bsky.social
Caroline Bird
@carolinebirduk.bsky.social
1.7K followers 430 following 57 posts
Poet & playwright. 7th poetry collection, Ambush at Still Lake, out from Carcanet: https://shorturl.at/JXYCR. Winner of Forward Prize for Best Collection 2020

www.carolinebird.co.uk
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Reposted by Caroline Bird
phillipcrymble.bsky.social
There is hope. / There is hope everywhere.

Anne Sexton
SNOW Snow, blessed snow, comes out of the sky like bleached flies. The ground is no longer naked. The ground has on its clothes. The trees poke out of sheets and each branch wears the sock of God. There is hope. There is hope everywhere. I bite it. Someone once said: Don't bite till you know if it's bread or stone. What I bite is all bread, rising, yeasty as a cloud. There is hope. There is hope everywhere. Today God gives milk and I have the pail.
December 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
Tomorrow! I’ll be performing at Soho Poly alongside the poetry-forces-of-nature that are Joelle Taylor and Will Harris. Tickets here: sohopoly.co.uk/events/soho-po…. Hosted and curated by the brilliant Hannah Copley @hannahcopley.bsky.social
December 3, 2025 at 8:58 AM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
The Only Yak in Batesville, Virginia

… Stephen Sexton shared this Oni Buchanan poem on a recent arvon course we taught together about obsessions… and now I am obsessed with this poem. The tragedy of a yak falling in love with a horse…
December 2, 2025 at 12:17 PM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
If you haven’t booked this yet, do JOIN ME on Dec 16th for our Christmas tradition of writing a frankly ridiculous amount of new poems… 🎄
Masterclass: Infinite Ways in to Writing Poems | Tackling big subjects with wonder | Arvon
For the third year running, with all new prompts and exercises, Arvon favourite Caroline Bird returns for our final Masterclass of the year, which promises to be a bolt of creativity to kick-start som...
www.arvon.org
December 2, 2025 at 12:11 PM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
‘All through Tuesday the air smelled like one big orange slice’

- Hannah Copley @hannahcopley.bsky.social
November 29, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
hannahcopley.bsky.social
One week to go until Soho Poly Poetry & this ⭐️superstar⭐️ lineup 👀 Get your 🎟️ to see the brilliant @carolinebirduk.bsky.social , Joelle Taylor & Will Harris next Thursday @thesohopoly.bsky.social (and if you need a free student ticket get in touch!) tinyurl.com/sohopolypoet...
November 27, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
outspokenpress.bsky.social
January - Grief with @no1emily.bsky.social & @pascalepetit.bsky.social

February - Parents with @carolinebirduk.bsky.social & Jack Underwood

March: Eros with @kimaddonizio.bsky.social & Oluwaseun Olayiwola

April: Resistance with Joelle Taylor & @aanaxagorou.bsky.social
GRIEF Consider the different ways poems can help get between the feelings of grief and loss and look at how to ensure a poem remains artful while also true to its emotional life and sensibility. Both Emily Berry and Pascale Petit have written extensively on the theme of grief using metaphor, allegory and anecdote and will be guiding poets through a range of tips and prompts aimed at enhancing their skillset and thinking around the kind of poetry they want to write. 6-27 JANUARY 2026 TUTORS: PASCALE PETIT, EMILY BERRY WORKSHOPS: TUES 7-9PM UK HYPERFOCUS grief: outspokenldn.com/hyperfocus HYPERFOCUS - parents How do you write about a problematic parents)? How best could you navigate a complex upbringing? How do you handle the sheer awe and panic of being a new parent? How do you write about the loss of a parent? In this second segment of Hyperfocus, join poets Caroline Bird and Jack Underwood as they look at ways we can write poems that draw from the multilayered experiences of having parents and being a parent. 3-24 FEBRUARY 2026 TUTORS: CAROLINE BIRD JACK UNDERWOOD WORKSHOPS: TUES 7-9PM UK PARENTS outspokenldn.com/hyperfocus EROS Love, desire, lust, eros and longing are all part of March's Hyperfocus. Participants will be looking at what makes an erotic poem... erotic. How does one write erotica without sounding crass or twee, how can we express notions of longing or desire for another person and not make the poem feel like it's over-reaching or performative and if we are to write sex how much does that involve the body. How do sexuality, ability and gender impact the way we write into these themes? 3-24 MARCH 2026 TUTORS: KIM ADDONIZIO OLUWASEUN OLAYIWOLA WORKSHOPS: TUES 7-9PM UK HYPERFOCUS eros outspokenldn.com/hyperfocus HYPERFCCUS resistance 7-28 APRIL 2026 TUTORS: JOELLE TAYLOR ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU WORKSHOPS: TUES 7-9PM UK Writing poems that talk truth to power or address the state of the nation can often be tricky to navigate. Either a poem is so direct it ends up feeling didactic or it's so subtle it doesn't have the push and bite it needs to make its case. Over the course of the four weeks participants will explore what it means to write a poem that is concerned with the world, injustice, oppression, trauma and witness. RESISTANCE outspokenldn.com/hyperfocus
November 26, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
fallingtreeprod.bsky.social
...listen to @carolinebirduk.bsky.social's documentary through BBC Sounds (or in the Falling Tree archive) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, When the Words Leave
The poet Caroline Bird explores the silences when it feels like the words have left you.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
fallingtreeprod.bsky.social
"Being poets, they were able to explain what creativity and creative silence feel like in ways that lingered on the ears, not least because many of their metaphors and similes sprang from the radio..."

When the Words Leave is reviewed in today's Spectator www.spectator.co.uk/article/was-...
Was Queen Victoria's doctor the first psychoanalyst?
Queen Victoria began to experience dark visions after giving birth to her second child. Concerned that she might have inherited the madness of her grandfather, George III, Prince Albert summoned her d...
www.spectator.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
fallingtreeprod.bsky.social
In the company of other poets, @carolinebirduk.bsky.social explores the silences when it feels like words have left you.

Listen to When the Words Leave on BBC Sounds www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

@oliverinthenorth.bsky.social @hannahcopley.bsky.social

Music - Phil Smith
Prod - Eleanor McDowall
November 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
oliverinthenorth.bsky.social
Was a pleasure to talk to Caroline Bird about how it feels when the words leave.
carolinebirduk.bsky.social Caroline Bird @carolinebirduk.bsky.social · 26d
Tonight at 7.15 on Radio 3. Writer’s block, dry spell, fallow period, worrisome silence, that terrifying, lonely time when you *cannot* write a poem. I speak to Liz Berry, Oliver Carmichael, Hannah Copley, Marie Howe, Vanessa Kisuule and Jack Underwood! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, When the Words Leave
The poet Caroline Bird explores the silences when it feels like the words have left you.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
Tonight at 7.15 on Radio 3. Writer’s block, dry spell, fallow period, worrisome silence, that terrifying, lonely time when you *cannot* write a poem. I speak to Liz Berry, Oliver Carmichael, Hannah Copley, Marie Howe, Vanessa Kisuule and Jack Underwood! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, When the Words Leave
The poet Caroline Bird explores the silences when it feels like the words have left you.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
mayacpopa.bsky.social
Friends, I'm grateful to have a poem from my forthcoming book, IF YOU LOVE THAT LADY, in this week's New Yorker. 🤍
November 5, 2025 at 7:26 PM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
Happy launch day to @antoshwojcik.bsky.social

Here’s one of my favourite poems from his new collection ‘Suburban Locust’
October 30, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
cphillipspoet.bsky.social
A new poem in the new issue of Agni @agnimagazine.bsky.social 🫨
October 28, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
jntod.bsky.social
Congratulations to Vidyan Ravinthiran, who has jointly won (with Karen Solie) the Forward Prize for Best Collection with Avidyā (Bloodaxe). Its brilliant final poem, "as a child", describes how an early speech impediment led him to be "a scrutineer of sound" with a love of "the avid void of English"
As a child By Vidyan Ravinthiran because my voice was not the right voice and could not be understood I stood before the mirror — a murky glassen word this mouth can’t shape right to this day — and was made to watch my teeth and lips being imprecise. So this is why I come across a Southron and not from Yorkshire, or Sri Lankan; but I’ll complain no more about this clarified and potent tongue for when the moustached gent at US Customs asked me in his hapless twang are you a terrorist, my borrowed posh it sure abashed that poor colonial; and it was of course what my child-face perceived or could not in the glass which made of me a scrutineer of sound, a listener for and into every glitch in the aathma, the script, the avid void of English.
October 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
‘This poem is me at my beast’

Huge congratulations to all the winners and shortlistees (is that a word?) for the @forwardprizes.bsky.social. The readings last night were a triumph.

I love this poem from Isabelle Baafi’s ‘Chaotic Good’ (winner of best first collection)…
October 27, 2025 at 12:40 PM
carolinebirduk.bsky.social
Are you free on the evening of December 16th? 🎄 Join me for this masterclass all about finding multiple (infinite?) ways in to the same subject matter. We’ll write a ridiculous amount of poems in 2 hours…with brand new exercises ⁦‪‬⁩
www.arvon.org/writing-cour...
Masterclass: Infinite Ways in to Writing Poems | Tackling big subjects with wonder | Arvon
For the third year running, with all new prompts and exercises, Arvon favourite Caroline Bird returns for our final Masterclass of the year, which promises to be a bolt of creativity to kick-start som...
www.arvon.org
October 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
rosiemilespoet.bsky.social
Final night of “The Last Stand of Mary Whitehouse” by @carolinebirduk.bsky.social . I doubt there’s any tickets left but it’s a fantastic play. Maxine Peake and Samuel Barnett are superb. Let’s hope there will be another run.
nottmplayhouse.bsky.social Nottingham Playhouse @nottmplayhouse.bsky.social · Sep 19
⏰ JUST 1 WEEK LEFT! The acclaimed The Last Stand of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse ends 27 Sept.

Tue 23 Sept: Special post-show talk "Gay History of the 70s & 80s" exploring LGBTQ+ life during the Whitehouse/Thatcher era.

Final chance - book now!
bit.ly/NPMaryWhitehouse
September 27, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
nickhernbooks.bsky.social
'Incredibly powerful'
★★★★★ WhatsOnStage

'Witty and timely'
★★★★ Guardian

The Last Stand of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse by NHB author Caroline Bird is now on @nottmplayhouse.bsky.social.

Get your playscript copy at the venue or online: www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/the-last-sta...
Top photo: Maxine Peake in The Last Stand of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse at Nottingham Playhouse. Photo by Helen Murray. Bottom photo: Playscript cover of The Last Stand of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse by Caroline Bird.
September 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
tessafoley.bsky.social
If there are ANY tickets left for this, I advise you to snap em up.

Standing ovation on the first night.

It’s feckin brilliant.

Caroline Bird’s THE LAST STAND OF MRS MARY WHITEHOUSE

nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/the-l...

Starring Maxine Peake and Samuel Barnett.

Mind blowing.
Maxine Peake playing Mrs Mary Whitehouse
September 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
nottmplayhouse.bsky.social
👓 Take a first look at The Last Stand of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse, with our fabulous production photos.

💐 Sending love and best wishes to our wonderful cast, creatives and crew for press night tonight.

📷 Helen Murray

Writer @Carolinebirduk.bsky.social
A woman, wearing a blue quilted coat and pink rollneck with dark glasses, stands between two theatre curtains, holding them open. She has a frown on her face and is looking off to the left. A garden shed against a blue backdrop on a stage. Standing in front of it a woman wearing a blue cardigan, pink rollneck and patterned skirt. She is pointing one finger up and looking upwards with a smile on her face. A man wearing a silk gown and hair wrap, and a woman wearing a long navy coat and matching hat sit, opposite one another at a wooden dining table. They are staring intently at each other, with the man reaching out one arm across the table in an attempt to reach the woman’s hand.
September 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
theguardian.com
‘The one thing it doesn’t have is actual sex’: the new Mary Whitehouse play that would have infuriated Mary Whitehouse
‘The one thing it doesn’t have is actual sex’: the new Mary Whitehouse play that would have infuriated Mary Whitehouse
She was the morality crusader who became a figure of ridicule. Now Whitehouse is the subject of a new production starring Maxine Peake. We meet the gay feminist playwright who wrote it
www.theguardian.com
September 4, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Caroline Bird
nottmplayhouse.bsky.social
Straight from rehearsals, brand-new photos of world premiere The Last Stand of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse.

Starring Maxine Peake & Samuel Barnett, @carolinebirduk.bsky.social’s wickedly funny new play about a highly controversial figure.

bit.ly/NPMaryWhiteh...

📆 Fri 5 – Sat 27 Sep
📷 @helenmurraypix
A woman with blond hair in a ponytail, glasses and wearing a pink t-shirt sits on a 1970s floral garden chair. She holds a folder in her lap, raises her left hand to her chin and looks off, a distant look on her face. A man and woman, both wearing pale pink t-shirts, sit opposite each other on wooden chairs, holding hands. They both look out. In front of them, a woman in a blue shirt sits in a chair, leaning toward them. A man in a pink t-shirt and glasses crouches sits sideways on the floor. He is frowning and looks off camera, concerned.
August 14, 2025 at 1:06 PM