LOCAL writer and workshop leader, Rosie Jackson, is celebrating a successful September with her poetry winning eight awards in various competitions.
Rosie’s awards included first prize in the Bath Poetry Cafe with her poem ‘John Donne Arriving in Heaven’ beating 395 entries. Also, her poem, ‘Mary Shelley, Hyde Park, 1850’ won Highly Commended in the Torbay Poetry competition.
Rosie also had three of her poems shortlisted for Buzzwords, a Cheltenham- based competition.
Rosie said, “I feel really gratified by the news of all the wins. Sometimes entering poetry competitions with hundreds, if not thousands of international entries can seem like a lottery and it’s reassuring to know that poems are actually read and valued.
“I have entered things before, but this summer I was more purposeful about it and worked hard on honing poems and sending them in. I’ve had success now, so far, with every competition entered this year, and it’s great to be visible, to know the world esteems your work.
“I’m fortunate to be part of a great network of poets around Frome and in the South West, as well as running poetry workshops in Frome, and I get a lot of support from fellow writers. This success is also good advance publicity for my book, ‘The Light Box’, which will come out with Cultured Llama next spring.”
Rosie has also been asked to write a poem for an anthology to celebrate the centenary of the Holburne Museum in Bath in 2016. Rosie said, “The museum is putting together a special anthology of poetry and art to celebrate their centenary 1916-2016 next year. It is a challenge, writing to order, about a lacquered cabinet. Finding a new angle into that will be interesting.”
