The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

Glyn Maxwell grew up in Welwyn Garden City, which is where his conversation with Simon Armitage in the shed begins. His mother was in the original stage production of Under Milk Wood, so the young Maxwell was soon staging his own plays in the garden of his parents' house. Simon attended the first of these. They soon found themselves travelling together to make radio programmes and to write new poetry. Iceland came first, followed b...

Olive Senior gets the prize as the guest who has travelled the furthest to join Simon Armitage in his writing shed in West Yorkshire. Born in rural Jamaica in Cockpit County, Olive currently lives in Toronto, Canada. At 19 she joined the staff of the Jamaican Gleaner, the main newspaper, where she interviewed visiting celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor.

Poet, novelist, short story and non-fiction writer Olive says she has read eve...

Loyle Carner talks to Simon Armitage in his own creative 'shed' - Hackney Road studios in London where he spend much of lockdown writing and also recorded his latest acclaimed album Hugo. Their conversation ranges from writing lyrics and poetry, to family and fatherhood , cooking and creating genreless music. Chilli Con Carner is a cooking school Loyle runs for children with ADHD , something close to his heart as he has a diagn...

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink, waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills, he's been working on a new kind of poem he's invented - the Flyku - inspired by the moths and butterflies he sees around him. Any distraction is welcome, eve...

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink , waiting for inspiration to strike, our current poet laureate, Simon Armitage, has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills, he's been working on a new kind of poem he's invented - the Flyku - inspired by the moths and butterflies he sees around him. Any distraction is welcome, ...

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink, waiting for inspiration to strike, our current poet laureate, Simon Armitage, has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills, he's been working on a new kind of poem he's invented - the Flyku - inspired by the moths and butterflies he sees around him. Any distraction is welcome, e...

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink , waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills, he's been working on a new kind of poem he's invented - the Flyku - inspired by the moths and butterflies he sees around him. Any distraction is welcome, ev...

For a special finale to the current series, Simon Armitage travels to Wales to talk to HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales in his Welsh home, Llwynywermod, in Llandovery. Swapping his shed in the Pennines for a barn beside the Brecon Beacons, Simon weaves the conversation around themes of creativity, inspiration and nature. He speaks to The Prince of Wales about the flora and fauna of their surroundings, his passion for conserv...

Sabrina Verjee works as a vet in The Lake District., but she is also a champion fell runner. She has recently has broken the Wainwrights record, successfully completing all of Cumbria’s 214 peaks, a 325 mile route in 5 days 23 hours 49 minutes. The feat involves 36,000m of ascent - equivalent to climbing Everest four times and includes includes Scafell Pike, England’s highest peak.

In summer 2010 Simon Armitage decided to walk ...

John Tiffany a multi award-winning theatre director is from the same village in West Yorkshire as Simon Armitage. They both grew up watching their parents in amateur dramatic shows in the Marsden Parochial Hall, but it was a chance trip to a professional production years later that turned John's attentions away from medical school and back to the stage. He's the person behind some of the most acclaimed theatrical productions o...

Gillian Burke is best known to us as a presenter of the 'Watch' television series - Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch .She talks to Simon Armitage about her childhood in Kenya where she had a hands-on experience of wildlife, running barefoot outside her house searching for insects . Her love of conservation was inspired by her mother who worked in Nairobi for the UN on environmental projects . From the natural world to a...

Jo Whiley tells of her unsure beginnings in the world of broadcasting when she comes to the shed this week. A chance conversation with a lecturer when she was at university led to a job on BBC Radio Sussex' Turn It Up, giving her the chance to attend gigs and interview musicians. Since then she has presented many music shows on national BBC Radio networks. She's also known for her strong connection with The Glastonbury Festival ...

Joanne Rowling, known as JK Rowling, is known globally for writing one of the best selling book series in history. Harry Potter and his classmates now have their firm place in the collective imagination of a generation of readers. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

In the shed, Jo Rowling discusses the joys and the pains of writing with fellow author Simon Armitage, explaining how she picked up a pe...

Poet Imtiaz Dharker was born in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Her family moved to Glasgow when she was less than one year old. A fine artist and film maker, she has won the Queen’s Gold Medal for her poetry. Seen as one of Britain's most inspirational poets, she has been heavily involved for many years in Poetry Live, an organisation bringing poetry to school students which was set up by her late husband. She describes herself as a "S...

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, this summer he's working on a set of haikus inspired by the landscape around him and the people who drop by. Any distraction is w...

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, this summer he's working on a set of haikus inspired by the landscape around him and the people who drop by. Any distraction is w...

The Poet Laureate Simon Armitage returns for a second series of his podcast.

From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, this summer he's working on a set of haikus inspired by the landscape around him and the people who drop by. Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about poetry, creativity, music, art, sheds, sherry and the countryside.

“For too long I’ve ...

The Poet Laureate has gone to his shed on his own this week. Simon Armitage can't ask any guests to join him in his writing shed in West Yorkshire due to the Coronavirus. So he sits in the moonlight hoping to catch an owl in the garden to inspire his writing, and to think about the world beyond as he approaches the end of his translation of the medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale.

It's a beautifully still night. Poetry, conte...