"The No Baby Poem" was published in "Answering Back" (Faber), edited by Carol Ann Duffy, in 2007. You can read the poem on my poetry page.
I also was excited to be shortlisted for the Glen Dimplex Poetry Award at the end of the year.
I was even more excited to give birth to the most beautiful baby girl in the universe ever. Niamh Poppy Griffin-Shaw was born at 1.40am on the 12th December 2007. She's an absolute delight. She's also the reason I have even less time to keep my website updated.
You can read a poem about the unborn Niamh on my poetry page.
I'm currently working on a (funnily enough) "Mothers and Daughters" project with the other members of Six Women Poets with a Kick, co-ordinated by Anne Caldwell. The project will lead to the publication of an anthology of prose and poetry, and a series of performances across the North.
I've just had a chapter accepted for publication in "Writing the Self", edited by John Killick and Myra Scheider and featuring writing by great authors including Pascale Petit and Penelope Shuttle. It will be published by Continuum later this year.
And as usual I'm busy working at harm-ed, which is going from strength to strength. You can read all about us on our new and improved website at