Poetry: Locating Ourselves in Poetry

Tutor: Philip Gross – Poet

Philip Gross, born in Cornwall, son of an Estonian wartime refugee, has lived in South Wales since 2004. The Water Table (Bloodaxe) won the T.S.Eliot Prize 2009; he received a Cholmondeley Award in 2017. He is a keen collaborator – with artist Valerie Coffin Price on A Fold in The River (Seren, 2015), with poet Lesley Saunders on A Part of the Main (Mulfran, 2018), with scientists on Dark Sky Park (Otter-Barry, 2018) and, most recently, in Troeon/Turnings (Seren, 2021) a ‘translaboration’ – mutual translations/responses – with Welsh language poet Cyril Jones. The Thirteenth Angel (2022) is his 12th collection from Bloodaxe.

Guest, Wednesday evening: Ann Pilling – writer

Ann Pilling was born in Lancashire in 1944 and lived there for 20 years. She read English at King’s College, London where she subsequently wrote a thesis on the fiction of C.S.Lewis which effectively became her first book. Between 1983 and 2003 she published over 30 books for children and two adult novels. Her books have been translated into many languages. Two titles were commended for the Carnegie Medal and she won The Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction for her novel Henry’s Leg.

Until 2009 Ann lived in Oxford but then moved to Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales (the country of her heart) with her husband. She has two sons and six grandchildren.

In 2003 Ann made a conscious decision to concentrate on writing poetry, always her first preference. She won the Smith/Doorstep Competition in 2008 for her pamphlet ‘Growing Pains’. ‘Home Field’, her first collection, was published later the same year. She has subsequently published 4 further collections.

Her poems have won many prizes. ‘The Removal’ was a 1st prizewinner in the Faber/Ottaker Competition 2002; ‘Green Woodpecker’ was a prizewinner in 2010 in the Yorkshire Open Poetry Competition; ‘Last Train’ was a subsequent winner. ‘Cold Toast’ won a prize in the first ever Troubadour Poetry Competition in 2007. ‘Breasts’ was published in the Forward Best Poems Collection of 2010. She has been longlisted 4 times in the National Poetry Competition, most recently for ‘Exit’ ( 2022 competition) which appeared in ‘Ways of Speech’ (2020) and for ‘The Rose I planted'( 2023 competition) which appeared in ‘In Flight’, 2024.

Fee includes all day and evening tutored workshop sessions, individual tutorials, tutor and guest readings, accommodation, inc. sheets and towels and all meals (not including alcohol).

Single – En-suite room £1,115
Single – Shared bathrooms £1,065
Shared Room (2 Beds) £1,015pp – single supplement £50

£200 deposit payable on booking by bank transfer, PayPal or cheque, to secure place. Balance due six weeks before the start of the course.

Please see Terms and Conditions.

Please arrive between 3:00pm and 4:30pm on Monday 13th October 2025

Tea, cake and housekeeping information 4.30pm

Introductory Workshop 5.30 – 6.30pm

Dinner 7.00pm

After breakfast, 10:00am on Saturday 18th October 2025