creating – Page 3

Where the wild lives

April 23, 2021

This poem was gifted to me by the land at San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, northern Spain, over a magical hunters full moon weekend back in October 2019. We parked on the cliff tops then walked and dreamed. A truly magical place in time. This is also the opening poem to the new novel The Madness of Sara Mansfield as I felt directed by the land to stitch as much of her into the book as posible. The Madness of Sara…

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An international book

April 21, 2021

My work has always been political. How can an artist create and not speak to the wider context of community or land? One of the (many) reasons we moved into the van was in protest at Britain’s Brexit vote. We still very much feel European, and in times like these I believe we should be opening our borders to help those in need, not locking ourselves away to fight it out on this tiny island. I wanted The MthR Trilogy…

books creating poetry

On characters and shapeshifting

April 19, 2021

The most elaborate character development I undertook for the new novel, The Madness of Sara Mansfield, was with Alex/Crow. They began life as an hour-long sound/spoken word performance piece, CRØWOMAN. I only performed this twice before realising that this character is Trans and that they need to live in the novel, not on stage. As I’ve written before, the titular character has my initials because all of the characters in the novel are potential reflections of my Self: I am…

books creating feature poetry

Learning to be okay with being misunderstood

April 17, 2021

My new novel, The Madness of Sara Mansfield, is out on 1st May 2021. It’s a strange feeling sending this book out into the world. Especially as I’ve never spent so long on a single piece of writing in the past. Over six years I’ve agonised over endless lines as if it were an 88,000 word poem. One of the elements I‘ve struggle with is worrying how people might perceive some of the political themes. Perhaps because in the past…

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On Welsh myth and Cretian landscapes

April 13, 2021

One of the elements of the new novel, The Madness of Sara Mansfield, that’s important to me is the nature writing. Although this sci-fi trilogy nods towards dystopia, there’s also hope, and for me, the potential for new dreams always flows from nature.After wars, or in derelict places, wild plants grow, reclaiming the space, rejoicing in their fecundity. Nature knows how to heal the scars of our making. I think this is why I find books like McCarthy’s The Road…

creating feature poetry

The poet affects great change

April 11, 2021

Text reads: The poet affects great change in the hearts of people so that those people can affect great change in the world. Lines from The Madness of Sara Mansfield, first book in the MthR Trilogy. Out as digital download on 1st May 2021 from SophieMcKeand.com.…

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The Madness of Sara Mansfield book cover

March 29, 2021

I’m so happy to share the cover art of the new novel, The Madness of Sara Mansfield. My partner in life, Andy Garside, always designs my work, always manages to convey the essence of each book with a beautiful clarity and vision. I wanted the making of this book to be an act of trust, whose creation speaks to an anarchic ideal that everything under this blue sky belongs with a collective stewardship, in the Creative Commons. Which is why…

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Days of editing and mending

March 28, 2021

I’m on the final proofread of the novel. Can’t quite believe I’ve made it this far. Finding the right copy-editor and proofreader is essential. No matter how many edits I’d done, there were still things I’d missed, not just with punctuation and grammar but also with clarity of thought at times. All of these layers add to the process of birthing this book into the world so that I feel confident it’s the absolute best piece of work I can…

creating poetry travel Wales

In praise of our Celtic rainforests

March 27, 2021

Being back in our homeland of Cymru this winter offered a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with the land and trees here. This weekend travel restrictions ease and we get to explore farther afield once more. Here’s a poem from the Hanes poetry pamphlet in celebration of that. Also for my lovely friend @anjetvanlinge ? #rainforest #celticrainforest #idreamwithtrees #poetlife #slowlivingactivism text reads: rainforestSnowdonia’s Celtic rain forest in Cwm Mynach (Monk’s Valley) has around 200 days of rain each year. rainfall tearsblister…

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In celebration of the Creative Commons

March 23, 2021

I’ve been working more with my anxiety of late. Instead of trying to squash it, I’ve been listening, applying a gentle ‘why am I feeling this now?’. The answers aren’t always apparent, but they’re slowly revealing themselves as I grow self-awareness. One of the things I’ve struggle with is how I want to share work with the world. It often appears as if everyone else has everything sorted: they go down the traditional publishing in magazines/publisher route, or they use…

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