I caught up with Valerie to find out more.

The collection was written over 15 years, which is a long time. What made you stick with it?

I really didn’t have a choice. It was how I would deal with the realities of my life. I would be deep in a thought or an emotion, and then this pattern would form and then these words would come, and the only way to stop thinking about it was to write it down and release it.

Your career has been as a ghostwriter – are there any similarities in each craft?

Ghostwriting is a lot of fun. If you do it right, you essentially write as another person. You take on his character. You listen intently to his word choice and his manner of speaking. You hear this other person in your head, and  you write the words you think he would say. It’s a bit like acting. For my poetry, it’s entirely me. It’s my voice, my thoughts, my experiences.

Is poetry the most natural way to explore the theme of love?

I think love is such a complicated human emotion and concept that it can be explored in many ways. There are romance novels, paintings, movies, plays, etc.  Poetry is just how I explore it. It’s my way of expression.

How do you stop yourself from being cliched?

I just try hard to be authentic and true to myself, and then my craft follows.

Your book explores the relationship between the natural elements with the emotions of love – can you explain this?

There are many poems throughout the book that reference the ocean, the moon, the wind, etc. These are parts of nature that I gravitate towards. And so when you read the poems, you’ll see me talk about nature,  sometimes in a joyful way and other times to represent loss.

Do you now call yourself a poet?

This is a very fair question, as I’ve been struggling with this label quite a bit. I supposed publishing a book of poetry that, knock wood, so far, is well received makes me a poet. I think of myself more of a storyteller. I’m just telling a story with each poem using a limited number of words and hoping it resonates. But, I suppose I could try on the word for a little bit and see how it fits.

This exciting week-long programme of live arts events, fringe activities and happenings around town is an opportunity to showcase creativity and arts in the local area, through unique and exclusive experiences.

What’s on?

There will be interactive street theatre and dance performances in Park Mall, all to interact with the community and provide events and an atmosphere in Ashford town centre. Bootworks Theatre will perform We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat, which is a show for small-town communities, about small-town communities. You’ll see Comedy Cavemen, a posse of Palaeolithic cavemen characters causing mischief and spreading an environmental message.

You’ll be able to see street art created by great local artists. Create your own art with The Open Air Drawing-Room a drawing group offering some landscape painting. Each artist (audience member) also makes a Cyanotype portrait which will be exhibited as a mirror image to the final painting – A Sea of Faces – embracing JMW Turner’s pioneering interest in photography and his desire to find new ways to embrace art. This project invites the public to engage in setting the world record for a painting that has been created by the largest number of artists – which is pretty exciting!

Circus will come to the streets, you can see performance poets in pubs, and there will even be a spoof version of JAWS outside the Picturehouse cinema. Frantic features spectacular acrobatics and dance-theatre, choreographed around a wheel, with a hidden water system for a joyous finale danced in pouring rain. CONFiCo present JOiNT, a playful and curious piece exploring the interplay between individuality, commonality and the body’s facility. Acrobatics, globe walking, dead celebrities, French finesse, trumpeting and mime mayhem make L’Hotel an enchanting show to delight the audience. For kids there’s Tutu Trouble, an exciting original new physical theatre show for children.

At Revelation Ashford, there will be live DJ sets by Huey Morgan from Fun Lovin’ Criminals and BBC 6 Music and Terry Hall of The Specials, warming up festival goers with their music and sounds.

Mr Harper’s Birthday Party

In December 1911 George Harper made an anonymous offer to present the Hubert Fountain to Victoria Park. So as well as all the above, there will be a Victorian-themed Mr. Harper’s Birthday Partyfamily fun day on Sunday 21 July, which acknowledges and celebrates his gift, with games, arts, workshops and music – and the traditional birthday cake races.

Why host Create Platform?

It’s all part of an effort to make Ashford a creative place to be beyond just the Create weekend. “It is really important for the growth of Create, as well as Ashford’s cultural offer, to extend beyond the one big day in the park,” says Chris Dixon, Arts & Cultural Industries Manager at Ashford Borough Council.  “The introduction of Create Platform three years ago has allowed for more opportunities for local artists, as well as generated broader engagement from audiences, venues, and sponsors.”

Originally published on the Create Festival blog.

‘Poetry is a connection. It’s like there’s all these emotions inside, in the soul, and then there’s your wise head sort of watching and knowing, and writing…it bridges the two together. Makes it make more sense.’

Sometimes heavy subjects are given a softer envelope in a sentence. At others the mundane is made sensitively profound. There’s poems on the universal, as well as the highly personal.

Many of the pieces are being shared for the first time. Despite being a regular performer, many of the poems have never been printed on page, even if performed on the stage. If you want to hear them live, make sure you head down to the launch on September 1st at Folkestone’s Lime Bar. And get your hands on a copy here.

Come along to the Scout Hut on Forge Lane at 11am on Tuesday 12th September and get stuck in!

For more details see below.

Canterbury Christ Church University World Mental Health Day Writing Competition 2017

This year Canterbury Christ Church University is celebrating World Mental Health Day by raising awareness around emotional and mental health through various events and workshops being run throughout the day.

The university works to include and promote fairness and respect for all, which includes recognising the emotional and mental needs of individuals.

The University invites poems on the theme of “Magic moments” or short stories about “Working on Mental Health”.

This competition is free to enter and open to students, staff and the community in which the university works within.  We hope that this competition enables people to think about emotional health and wellbeing and looking after oneself.

Judges

Poetry: Professor Doug MacInnes, Luigi Marchini

Prose: Janet Lloyd, Michelle Crowther

Prizes will be donated by the University bookshop

Deadline

September 15th 2017

Poems: 60 lines max.

Short stories: 3500 words max.

Entries should be sent

to:

worldmentalhealthday@canterbury.ac.uk

Please read the terms and conditions before entering.