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As a writer and educator, I’ve long been fascinated by how creativity works in the classroom. In this blog, I explore Uncreative Writing, a radical teaching approach developed by Dr Cath Clover. Drawing on her powerful workshop at Goldsmiths, I show how copying, remixing, and reframing existing texts can spark critical thinking, accessibility, and genuine creative joy. Whether you’re teaching English, media, or any subject, this inclusive method helps students find their voice through found words.
I’ve long believed that creative writing isn’t just for the English classroom—it’s a radical, transformative practice that can fuel creativity across the curriculum. In my new chapter for The Oxford Handbook of Creativity and Education, I explore how freewriting, diagrarting, critical literacy, and compassionate feedback can empower learners of all ages. Drawing on decades of teaching experience and recent research, I show how creative writing can heal, liberate, and inspire. This piece is for educators, writers, and anyone interested in reimagining how we learn and grow through words.
In this article, I explore why knowledge of the publishing industry is essential for both creative writers and educators. Drawing on my experience teaching publishing to MA students, I argue that understanding how books are produced, marketed, and circulated can empower writers and transform the way we teach creative writing. This piece is both a call to action and a practical guide for integrating publishing literacy into the creative writing classroom.
In April 2025, I had the joy of welcoming back Carinya Sharples—a former student of mine from the MA in Creative Writing and Education I lead at Goldsmiths—for an unforgettable session on Decolonising Creative Writing Pedagogies. Carinya held the space with grace, rigour and radical care, sparking vital conversations about power, voice, and language. In this blog, I share five key strategies that emerged from her talk and my own experience—practical, powerful ways to rethink how we teach creative writing. If you’re ready to challenge norms and embrace liberatory practice, come explore more with me by reading the blog.
Marketing isn’t just about selling books—it’s about finding the right readers, refining your creative process, and sharing your work with confidence. In this blog, we explore marketing in the publishing industry through the lens of the writer as a healer, teacher, researcher, and reflective practitioner.
Publishing isn’t just about books—it’s about shaping identity, community, and activism. This blog explores how the MA Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths uses publishing as a pedagogical tool, from internal dialogues between the Writer, Publisher, and Healer within us, to global projects like GlobalGRACE and Creative Voices, which use storytelling, theatre, and art to amplify marginalised voices. Discover how publishing extends beyond the page to empower writers, challenge dominant narratives, and foster creative communities. Read more about how publishing can be a process of transformation, resistance, and education.
This blog explores how learning to write, publish and teach can help creative writers in multiple ways; they can hone the craft of their writing and pedagogy by using publishing as a pedagogical tool. A truly innovative approach…
An article which discusses how creative writing educators might develop their own methodologies so that they can become fruitful creative writers who use publishing to develop the literary and pedagogical practices that work for them.
A short article on the lessons I learnt from my late godfather, Christopher Smith.
This article explores the Publishing Industry in 7 objects. It starts with the dawn of humanity to the present day.
This article explores how and why outsiders, in the form of writers, readers and texts, came to shape the publishing industry, particularly Young Adult novels.
This blog post briefly explores the benefits of reducing spending upon private education and boosting spending on public education. It includes an interview I did on LBC’s Iain Dale programme, December 2024.
An article which explores 4 key things I’ve learnt from experiencing Punchdrunk’s Immersive Theatre events.
This blog post explores the therapeutic effects of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, and its non-therapeutic effects as well.
This blog explores the issues involved with school trips, considering the reasons why problems happen. It follows an interview I did about the matter on Talk TV, December 2024.
This academic article, written by Professor Tom Dobson and I, explores the research we did looking at primary and secondary school teachers attitudes towards creative writing and redrafting. This is a rare piece of research which compares primary and secondary school teachers’ approaches to teaching creative writing. It shows that primary school teachers can be formulaic in the way they teach creative writing, using product approaches. However, in secondary schools the picture is different: teachers, particularly those, who are writers themselves, give students more agency in redrafting and shaping their writing. This indicates how professional development should involve primary and secondary school teachers in dialogue with one another to cross boundaries of practice.
Why bring all the students at a university together to learn critical thinking and research skills?
A recount of the Green Careers event that I co-ran (with Widening Participation, the Horniman Museum, and Lewisham’s Young People’s Climate Network) in May 2024 at Goldsmiths University.
Notes have helped me remember; they’re my safe space; they’re therapeutic; and they’ve liberated my imagination
An anthology investigating how educators, creatives, and learners can liberate and uplift their voices through writing, teaching, investigating, and intentional everyday living.