'I'm a proud black man, but let me make it clear; I don't profess to speak for all black people. I'm happy being a starting point for a conversation.'

I'm a proud black man, but let me make it clear; I don't profess to speak for all black people. I'm happy being a starting point for a conversation on race or politics but please don't make me the end.

The post Jonny Wright appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I distracted myself from not being able to write either a bird of prey poem, or a women wanting to fly poem, by thinking of women desiring wings.'

I distracted myself from not being able to write either a bird of prey poem, or a women wanting to fly poem, by thinking of women desiring wings... unexpectedly and irrationally, Anne Boleyn entered my mind.

The post Robyn Bolam appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I figure out whole narratives in two miles; if I don't have my notebook I'll forget the stories. '

I figure out whole narratives in two miles; if I don't have my notebook I'll forget the stories. The dogs are always knackered.

The post Tiffany Murray appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Every poem, every book I've ever read has been a friend and a lover, good or bad. They're part of the landscape of me.'

Every poem, every book I've ever read has been a friend and a lover, good or bad. They're part of the landscape of me.

The post Clare Shaw appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'The gathering clouds of certitude that trying to be a writer in what many regard as a post-literary world is a foolish endeavour. '

Trying to blow away the gathering clouds of certitude that trying to be a writer in what many regard as a post-literary world is a foolish, pointless and economically ruinous endeavour.

The post Tim Ecott appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Nobody's looking at you and pointing and judging. You should work hard to be listened to, rather than looked at.'

Nobody's looking at you and pointing and judging. You should work hard to be listened to, rather than looked at. Please stop staring at yourself.

The post Christina Hopkinson appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I realised that you didn't have to use bigger, abstruse words, and that simple language needn't mean expressing simple feelings.'

I realised that you didn't have to use bigger, abstruse words, and that simple language needn't mean expressing simple feelings or simple ideas.

The post Brian McCabe appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'A notebook must fit into a pocket, ready to receive drawings, an overheard conversation, a telling phrase.'

A notebook must fit into a pocket, ready to receive drawings, an overheard conversation, a telling phrase, or even a word or two that's taken my fancy.

The post Sally Kindberg appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'If Jasper represented writer's block, then what I needed was a bigger, meaner cat that represented inspiration. I decided to call the bigger cat Maximus. '

If Jasper represented writer's block, then what I needed was a bigger, meaner cat that represented inspiration. I decided to call the bigger cat Maximus. The question was, what did Maximus like to eat?

The post Brian Keaney appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Just when Freddie Mercury was taking off in our dichotomised university lives in India, came Keki Daruwalla... the Parsi policeman poet.'

Just when Freddie Mercury was taking off in our dichotomised university lives in India, came Keki Daruwalla. He was the Parsi policeman poet on a boat-poem ride along the Ganga.

The post Vayu Naidu appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.