Cliff Yates is an absolutely remarkable workshop leader and teacher of poetry whose own pupils have consistently won prizes in poetry competitions for young people. He is one of the best in the country working as a writer in schools. Highly experienced as a teacher, he can inspire staff as well as pupils through workshops which get to the heart of what writing is all about. – Chris Meade, Director of if:book.
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WORKSHOPS & FREELANCE
I lead courses and workshops in schools, colleges and universities, with students of all levels and abilities, with beginning writers and experienced poets. I also work extensively with teachers.
I’ve led courses and workshops for the Arvon Foundation, the British Council (tutor with Mimi Khalvati on Third International Creative Writing Summer School in Slovakia), NAGTY, NATE (various conferences), Open Arts, the Poetry Society, Poetryclass, Ty Newydd. I helped establish and develop the Poetryclass project for the Poetry Society, and led planning days with the team of poets. I’ve spoken at conferences and judged poetry competitions (Simon Elvin Young Poet of the Year Awards 2000 with Kathleen Jamie; member of judging panel for the Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition 2008). I was the TES Guest Poet during the autumn term 1999. Consultant for BBC World Service ‘Working out the Words’.
POETRY COMPETITIONS
Over 200 poems written by my students at Maharishi School have either been successful in a national creative writing competition or have achieved national publication. They have been successful, for example, in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Awards, The Norman Hidden Prize (Poetry Society), Simon Elvin Young Poets of the Year Awards, Young Poets on the Underground, TES ‘Young Poet’ , W H Smith Young Writers, the Roald Dahl Foundation Poetry Competition, and the Rialto Young Poetry competition.
Their poems have been published in over 30 anthologies published, for example, by the TES, the Poetry Society and WH Smith (Random House), and in journals, magazines, and the Times newspaper. Their poems have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (‘Poetry Please’ and ‘Today’), the BBC World Service and BBC local radio.
JUMPSTART POETRY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL
Jumpstart Poetry in the Secondary School has been used by teachers in Britain and abroad; by writers working in schools, colleges and in HE; by university lecturers teaching creative writing and by university lecturers teaching PGCE courses; and by people who want to write poems but are not sure how to go about it.
Jumpstart includes: an account of how to teach young people to write poems, including the best workshop ideas that I’ve come across; how to use writing workshop techniques in the classroom; poems by my own students as well as poems by established writers, and how to use them to inspire students’ poems; accounts by poets of how they came to write particular poems; and workshop ideas from other poets working in schools. You can read the introduction here. There are links to online resources and articles here.
POETRY SOCIETY ‘TEACHER TRAILBLAZER’ AWARD
In October 2008 I was given a ‘Teacher Trailblazer’ award by the Poetry Society: ‘for exceptional dedication to the teaching of poetry in schools’. As a result of the award, I was interviewed by David Ward in the Guardian, in an article entitled: ‘A Few Choice Words from the Guru’.
