Carbon Landscape Poems

In summer 2021, poet Clare Shaw was appointed Carbon Landscape Poet in Residence by Manchester Literature Festival and Lancashire Wildlife Trust. They were commissioned to write a sequence of poems responding to their interaction with the landscape and local people. As part of her residency, Clare ran creative writing workshops for local writing/community groups including the Paperback Writers and Art Tea Group in Leigh.

You can watch Clare performing some of their poems in Little Woolden Moss and discussing their experience of the residency with poet Helen Mort below and on the MLF Vimeo channel. You can also download a copy of the full sequence of poems by clicking on the link above.

Clare is the author of three poetry collections – Straight Ahead, Head On and Flood. Her fourth collection Towards a General Theory of Love was awarded a Northern Writer’s Award and will be published by Bloodaxe in 2022.  Earlier this year, Clare presented and co-wrote Ways to Weather the Storm on Radio Four, examining how creativity and art helped the Hebden Bridge community to live with the impact of repeated flooding.

This project is part of the Carbon Landscape Partnership funded by National Heritage Lottery Fund.