A Peek Behind the Poetic Curtain with Rosanna McGlone: Inside the Creative Process of Renowned Bards

PLUS limited edition tote bags just launched!

Hello Scribblers,

I hope you’ve had a gorgeous week and you are starting to wind down for a restful weekend. I had an exciting delivery this week - our first-ever book tote bags arrived! I will now only deliver books to the post office in our official tote, like a publisher Santa with merch…

If you have a current annual subscription to our Substack, (or if you purchase one this month) you can have one of totes free of charge - just email me your address to claim! (Isabelle [@] flyonthewallpress [ dot ] co [ dot ] uk)

Otherwise, they are just £5 and you can have a nosy at them here.

‘The Process of Poetry’ Edited by journalist and creative writing tutor Rosanna McGlone was released on December 18th 2023. Since then, it has been included on multiple university course lists and Rosanna has been interviewed on BBC Radio Four’s Front Row (which you can listen back to here)! Pre-Christmas, it hit number one, two and three, across three paperback categories on Amazon and has been inspiring writers and readers since - massive congratulations to Rosanna for her hard work! I wanted to chat to Rosanna about her exciting interview project, and see just how this craft book came about! I hope you enjoy the interview, and if you’re feeling inspired and want to pick up a copy, your exclusive subscriber 10% discount until the 31st of Jan is PROCESS10 at the checkout.

And if you fancy hearing the fantastic poets read their poetry and speak about their work, do join us at the online launch on Thurs 29th of Feb from 6.45pm. Tickets here.

What initially sparked the idea to peek behind the curtain and showcase the drafting process for renowned poets? Any funny or surprising stories from when you approached poets about participating?

When I was younger, I was fascinated by Owen’s exchange of drafts of his poem Anthem for Doomed Youth with his contemporary, Sassoon. This occurred whilst both were in Craiglockhart Hospital, in Edinburgh in 1917. I love seeing drafts in archives, but how much better to be able to ask living poets about the decisions that they make when crafting their work and to hear the rationale behind that poetic process?

As a poetry tutor (Tuesday evenings on Zoom), I was also mindful that my students sometimes felt a little overwhelmed by the exquisitely crafted, stunningly good poems that we were studying each week, and I was keen to show them that not all poems started out this way. What surprised me is that almost all of the poets whom I approached immediately agreed to take part. There was serious enthusiasm for sharing their craft. It has been a privilege to learn what I have and to have been able to impart the combined wisdom of so many of the country's leading poets. However, I think it's important to note that there are many poets whom I could equally have included in this book, time and space permitting.

As both a poetry tutor and the editor for this project, what were one or two of the most intriguing things you learned about different poets' creative processes that we as readers wouldn't otherwise get to see?