Our Tutors and Testimonials
Jonathan Edwards: Poet and Teacher. Tutor for our Digital Retreats at The Writing School 
Jonathan Edwards is the tutor for our Digital Poetry Retreats and is a firm favourite with our participants (check out the testimonials, below!). His first collection, My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren, 2014), received the Costa Poetry Award and the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award, and was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. His second collection, Gen (Seren, 2018), also received the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award. His poem 'Bridge' was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2019 and he has received prizes in the Ledbury Festival International Poetry Competition, the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition and the Cardiff International Poetry Competition. He has read his poems on BBC radio and television and at festivals around the world, recorded them for the Poetry Archive and led workshops in schools, universities and prisons. He lives in Crosskeys, South Wales.


Ewan Monaghan: Poet, Teacher
and Host for our Digital Retreats 
Ewan Monaghan is a Scottish poet, now resident in London, with work published in places likeThe Moth and The Four Faced Liar. His poems have been highly commended or shortlisted in competitions such as the AUB International and the Fish Prize. A former English teacher, Ewan has taught poetry in a range of formal and informal educational settings and is currently working for Writerz and Scribez on their community poetry programme. He has extensive experience with projects connecting young people and poetry, including a recent initiative for the United Nations and Fuel Theatre. He is a student on the MA in Writing Poetry at the Poetry School working with Glyn Maxwell and Tamar Yoseloff. He is a firm believer in the importance of the retreat as a dedicated space for creativity, having learned that a week of writing on retreat can sometimes unlock more new work than months trying to make progress alone. Ewan is working on a pamphlet based on the lives of his grandparents.   
Jeanette Burton: Poet & Teacher
for our Small Group, Online Courses 
Jeanette Burton is a poet and English teacher from Belper in Derbyshire. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University and has taught creative writing to students in the post-16 sector. Her poetry appears in Poetry Wales, Mslexia, and in two Candlestick Press pamphlets. She has been placed in several competitions, including commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize 2022, highly commended in both the Wales Poetry Award 2021and the Teignmouth Poetry Festival Open Competition 2022. She was awarded first place in the McLellan Poetry Prize 2021 and the Ware Poetry Prize 2022. Her pamphlet, What is this a family outing? was shortlisted for the inaugural Poetry Wales Pamphlet Competition 2021. 

Vicky Morris: Poet & Associate Teacher

Vicky Morris is a British/Welsh poet, mentor and creative educator from north Wales. Her debut pamphlet If All This Never Happened (Southword Editions 2021) was a winner of the Munster Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition and was shortlisted for Best Poetry Pamphlet in the Saboteur Awards 2021. Her poems have appeared widely in magazines and journals, including: The Rialto, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales and The North, and she is the editor of five anthologies of poetry and fiction by emerging young writers. Vicky has placed in various competitions including first place in the Prole Laureate Competition 2019 and the Aurora Prize 2020. She was recently shortlisted for the Mairtin Crawford Award for Poetry 2022 and highly commended in the Liverpool Poetry Prize 2022. For the last 14 years, Vicky has built opportunities for young writers, founding Hive in 2016 for writers aged 14 to 30. Through Hive, she has mentored many emerging young poets who’ve received accolades such as the New Poets Prize and the Foyle Young Poets Award. Her work developing young writers earned her a Sarah Nulty Award in 2019. She is a recent Arvon/Jerwood mentee. www.vickymorris.co.uk
Margie Sturton: Picture Book Author/Illustrator.
Tutor for online courses
Margaret Sturton is an author and illustrator of children’s picture books. in 2018, she received a distinction for her MA in Children’s Book Illustration from Anglia Ruskin University. Her debut picture book, ‘A Fox called Herbert’, was published in 2020 by Andersen Press. ‘A Fox called Herbert’ was long listed for the Klauss Flugge Prize, short listed for the Jalak Prize and was read aloud by Stephen Fry and Sarah, Duchess of York. Margaret has continue to write and illustrate books with Andersen Press. ‘Two can Play’ was released in 2021 and there are more books in the pipeline.

Margaret has taught workshops for adults through The Writing School and ArtWell. She has run workshops for children and young adult at local schools. She has also given talks for the Wee Write Festival, Orange Beak Studio, Anglia Ruskin University and The House of Illustration.

Kathryn Bevis: Poet, Founder of The Writing School.

Kathryn Bevis is Former Hampshire Laureate and Founder of The Writing School Online. Her poems have appeared in journals and magazines like: Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Poetry Ireland Review, Magma, Wasafiri, The London Magazine,  and Mslexia. In the past year, her poems have been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Written category), awarded a Hosking House Trust Residency, won the Wales Poetry Award, the Crysse Morrison Poetry Award, and the Second Light Poetry Competition, and co-won the Mairtín Crawford Award for Poetry and the Poetry Society Members’ Competition.


Flamingo is her debut chapbook (Seren: 2022). It was recently named as one of the Poetry Society’s ‘Books of the Year’ and shortlisted for the Saboteur Award for Best Pamphlet. Her debut full collection, The Butterfly House will be published in October 2024 with Seren.

TESTIMONIALS

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