This poem won the Yeovil International Literary Prize for Poetry 2013.
To hear Kiran read further selected work, please visit her Soundcloud page by clicking here.

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The Dalai Lama has announced that he wants to return as a ‘mischievous blonde woman’, as his official reincarnation looms (he is 80 in July).
Mail on Sunday, pg. 31

And that sparked my play INCARNATE. Six hours later, I sent the script to actor Meghan Treadway and director Bella Loudon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it down from Oxford to see the rehearsals on Monday, but on Sunday I was lucky enough to catch the dress rehearsal. I was incredibly nervous – this is only my second play, and the first I’ve seen performed – but within a couple of lines I relaxed. Bella and Meghan had done an incredible job. I actually really, really enjoyed it and it’s given me a lot of confidence in my playwriting. Here are a couple of pictures from the dress:

Then Tom and I had to dash off to the Saboteur Awards. As I’ve been incredibly lax in my blogging, you won’t know that the magazine run by my poetry publisher, Lighthouse, was shortlisted for Best Literary Magazine, OE was shortlisted for Best One-Off Event, and The Charnel House and Furies were shortlisted for Best Anthology. The event itself was held at Vout-O-Reenees, an amazing basement bar that did a mean Old Fashioned.
It was lovely to meet up with friends, and also put actual faces to Facebook friends and twitter handles. And even more wonderously, Lighthouse won its category, OE came first runner-up to the phenomenal 52 Project, Furies was runner-up in best anthology and The Charnel House WON!

I am beyond proud to have been involved in all these events/publications, and especially proud of Tom de Freston, who is the most innovative person I know, as well as talented and so supportive of art in all its forms. If you haven’t read the (award-winning!) The Charnel House, click here.
The rest of Sunday was spent trying to steal Tom’s champagne, and drinking celebratory martinis with my parents. I’ve come down with a stinking cold (my body shuts down if I have too much fun), but it was utterly worth it. Full list of winners here: http://www.saboteurawards.org/
Sabotage Reviews (which runs the Saboteur Awards and was founded by the glorious Claire) is a web-based platform that seeks to give innovative/unusual poetry/ poetry formats, short stories and novellas etc a space to shine. Basically everything that doesn’t ‘fit’ in mainstream media criticism. It’s one of the most exciting places on the internet and I fully recommend it.

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Which leads nicely onto one of the most exciting anthologies I have ever contributed to. Published by For Book’s Sake – a premier e-zine of writing ‘for and by independent women’ – Furies consists eighty-one pages of startling, angry, beautiful poetry. Silenced or misunderstood women from history and myth rise from the pages in a cacophony, accompanied by striking line drawings. Other poets include Helen Mort, Rebecca Goss, Malika Booker and Patience Agbabi. It’s a lovely object, but the contents cut like a razor on the tongue. I’m reading at the launch on the 1^st October, more details here.

And lastly, I handed in my MA thesis. I also declined my PhD offer. As well as bringing my twenty years in education to a close, this means that I am now a full-time writer.

Did you get that? A Full-Time Writer.
Six months ago, that sentence would have evoked a wistful sigh – ‘maybe after the PhD’. A year ago, I was trying to finish my first book. Two years ago, I was wedded to poetry and therefore had no illusions that such a thing may be possible. Three years ago, it was hit-and-miss whether I would feel up to getting out of bed that day. Four years ago, I would have swatted you aside with disdain – because four years ago, I wanted to be a lawyer, and was working (very briefly) for an asset management firm in London.
But now, I’m a writer. I’m paying taxes, filling out scary forms, signing contracts, actually saying what I do for a living to people without hiding behind student status or qualifying it with a self-deprecating quip.
My point is, things happen. My point is, for the first time in my life, I know where I want to be in a year, two years, four years’ time – writing, in whatever genre will have me.
And hopefully, remembering to update my blog more often.

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I want one!

The view from the house looks like this:

And only this afternoon I was walking the Long Mynd, Shropshire, which looks like this:

Spot the difference.

 The similarities are striking. I love that lush green, especially when it’s mixed with heathery shadows. I’m here in Shropshire for the Much Wenlock Poetry Festival, and thought this was as good a time as any to talk about ‘the other woman’ in my life, which was the only woman until The Cartographer’s Daughter came along. In fact, to use my friend Sarvat’s analogy, I suppose poetry is my ‘wife’ discipline, and prose my ‘mistress’. I’ve been writing poetry for about four years now, and you can find out all about my publication etc in the relevant section on my website.
Recently, there have been a few exciting developments and occurrences that I wanted to share. First off, over the past two days I’ve read at two brilliant festivals. My poor brother John is my chauffeur for the weekend, as I cleverly made his birthday present a trip away with me. He got me back slightly by dragging me up a rather large hill in rain:

Not my hat. Not happy.

But I intend to make up for the summiting with a very large meal this evening:
Thinking of all the food I will eat.

Last night, I read at ChipLitFest, Chipping Norton’s celebration of all things word-y. I was invited by Dan Holloway, author, poet and someone who has been instrumental in in my own development as a poet, and performed alongside Vanessa Kisuule. She is quite simply a revelation. I’m going to ask her for permission to reproduce a poem on this blog, because her work really is something else. The lovely Helen of the T’ai Chi Room sponsored the event, and the audience were great:

(l-r): Dan, me, Vanessa, Helen

I managed an hour of after party with Dan, Vanessa, and Rohan Quine, before John and I got incredibly lost driving to our hotel for the evening, the lobby of which looked like this:

 Thanks Mum!

Then we were up bright and early to get to Much Wenlock. The reading came courtesy of Andrea Porter, fellow Gatehouse Press poet and all-round superwoman. She won the Much Wenlock Poetry Prize last year, and kindly decided to share her reading with Sarah Law, Andrea Holland and me. It was a real pleasure to hear them all, and I’d really recommend checking out their work. The Pottery was a very atmospheric venue, and what’s more I spotted Daljit Nagra in the audience:

(l-r): Andrea P, Sarah, me and Andrea H

Also, I found out I have poetry accepted to Cake Magazine, and Lighthouse, but most excitingly of all, my retelling of the Eurydice myth, Splitting the Seed, has been shortlisted for the Café Writers and Ink, Sweat & Tears Commission! It’s an ekphrastic collaboration with Tom, and has become a bit of an obsession. We’re up against stiff competition, including Canal Laureate Jo Bell, but I’m keeping everything crossed.

Obligatory crossed-eyed Spangles image

I hope you haven’t minded the poetry trespassing. I may make poetry corner a monthly occurrence – let me know what you think!

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