Our 2025 New Northern Poets
These six incredibly talented poets based in the North of England were selected to take part in our unique mentoring and development opportunity. They received 1:1 mentoring from experienced poets from the University of Leeds Poetry Centre and took part in a series of commissions, including podcasting, leading workshops and reading groups, to help develop their poetic practice and expand their network.
Listen to the 2025 cohort on A Poet’s Life Podcast.
Keep your eyes on these new rising talents as their careers grow, and watch this space – we’re delighted to be showcasing them below:
Nóra Blascsók
My mentor was very lovely and gave some helpful feedback on my poems. They also shared some helpful advice on completing a full collection… It was a fantastic day of full poetry immersion. I really enjoyed the workshops and readings, and the Showcase was a real highlight. With the photo session and podcast interview, the Word Up North team made me feel very special for a day, like I deserved the attention… It was lovely to get to know the other poets as well and spend time together.
Nóra Blascsók is a Hungarian poet based in Manchester. She is a current Manchester Multilingual City Poet commissioned by Manchester City of Literature for 2025. Her debut pamphlet ‘<body>of work</body>’ was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2022. Her recent poems can be found/are forthcoming in The Poetry Review, Under the Radar, eche and the Alchemy Spoon.
Her poems can be found via Linktree: linktr.ee/norablascsok
You can follow Nora on Bluesky: @nblascsok.bsky.social
Rachel Curzon
Honestly, it was just the most wonderful time. I’m so, so grateful to have had the opportunity to take part in the day, and I loved every busy minute of it… The Poets’ Corner was such a lovely, affirming experience, and I actually found that it made me less worried about the final reading, as I rode the post-workshop high for a bit afterwards! Our participants were wonderful: engaged, funny, supportive and knowledgeable, and the time flew by.
Rachel Curzon was born in Leeds, and now lives near York. She is the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award, and her pamphlet is published under the Faber New Poets scheme. Her work has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Oxford Poetry Prize, Highly Commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize, won second place in the Pre-Raphaelite Society’s Poetry Competition and Poetry London Competition, and first place in the BBC Proms Poetry Competition. Recent poems have appeared in 14 magazine, berlin lit, Dust, Magma, The Marrow, and elsewhere.
In 2025, Rachel’s poem ‘There are enough poems about birds, and here is another one’ won the annual Poetry London Prize.
You can follow Rachel on X: @Rachel__Curzon and Bluesky: @rcurzon.bsky.social
Nigeen Dara
I found the mentoring sessions extremely useful. I had the right number of sessions… Through the mentoring session I benefited most from editing my poems. My mentor taught me ways in which to edit as editing was something I never really enjoyed doing before… I am currently working on a collection. This whole scheme has helped me edit the poetry collection I have already as well as add new poems to the collection.
Nigeen Dara is a British-Kurdish doctor and writer whose work explores themes of identity, immigration, war and womanhood, often drawing deeply from her cultural heritage. She is currently working on her debut collection of poetry and prose. In 2023, Nigeen was named a finalist in BBC Words First, a programme spotlighting emerging spoken word talent in the UK. Nigeen frequently performs her poetry on radio and TV.
Nigeen has gone onto win 1st place in the Open Poetry category in the Guernsey International Poetry Competition.
You can follow Nigeen on Instagram: @nigeeenn and X: @Nigeendara
Jamie Field
The time with my mentor was a fun and rewarding experience. Clearly studying my work beforehand, I received fantastic insights into my own poetry, with things to both work on and lean into… The whole day was a nerve-wracking enjoyable experience, with the showcase being the highlight. I loved the workshop with Anthony Dunn.
Winner of the inaugural Disabled Poets Prize, Jamie Field has had poems published in Banshee, Magma, the North and elsewhere. He is also a Poetry Ireland Introductions recipient 2021. He holds a MA in Poetry from Queen’s University Belfast. Originally from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, he lives and works in Blackpool, Lancashire.
You can follow Jamie on X: @JamieF128
Vanessa Napolitano
The mentoring went above and beyond my expectations in terms of what I learnt and the generosity of the mentor with his time and feedback… I have started to work on a collection and I’ve also entered some pamphlet competitions… One of the poems I worked on with Matt has been highly commended in a poetry competition… I loved meeting all the New Northern poets – there was such good camaraderie.
Vanessa Napolitano is a British/American poet who lives in Saltaire with her family. She has previously published three chapbooks, Birds & Bruises (Kelsay Books); Various Magics (Black Cat Poetry Press) and A Comet Passes (Alien Buddha Press).
Her work has appeared in several anthologies including Written Off’s ‘Ey Up Again: An Anthology of Northern Writing’ and ‘To Lay Sun into a Forest’ an anthology of grief. Her poems can also be read in journals such as Mom Egg Review, Humana Obscura, Stanchion, Ink, Sweat & Tears and Clarion. Her next pamphlet ‘the lives we had before’ is due out with Stanchion Press in 2026. Vanessa spent over a decade living in LA before returning to Yorkshire, and her writing is informed by her experience living in these places, and dislocation from ‘home’, as well as by grief and nature. She has received two Pushcart Prize and one Best of the Net nominations.
You can follow Vanessa on Instagram: @nessanapolitano_, X: @Moette and Bluesky: @moette.bsky.social
Laura Strickland
The podcast interviewing was a great experience. I had chosen this activity because I wanted to try something different and learn new skills. The showcase was a memorable experience. Sitting as a group and listening to each other read with our friends and family in the audience was special. Reading the poem that I had worked on through my mentoring was one of my favourite poetry readings I have done so far. It was an experience I’ll remember for a long time.
Laura Strickland is a carer and poet. Her writing has appeared in publications including The North, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Dreamcatcher, Northern Gravy, Strix, Propel, Atrium, The Frogmore Papers, Anthropocene and Butcher’s Dog. She is one of 20 poets included in Poetry Archive’s Worldview 2023; highly commended in Nine Arches Primers and was longlisted in the National Poetry Competition 2023.
You can follow Laura on Instagram: @found_by_strickland, X: @LauraS_poet and Bluesky: @l-strickland.bsky.social