Introducing the 2025 New Northern Poets. These six incredibly talented poets based in the North of England have been selected to take part in our unique mentoring and development opportunity. They will receive 1:1 mentoring from experienced poets from the University of Leeds Poetry Centre and take part in a series of commissions, including podcasting, leading workshops and reading groups, to help develop their poetic practice and expand their network.
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
I’m delighted to be selected as one of six New Northern Poets. To be paired up with a mentor and given the opportunity to perform at a prestigious literary festival is very exciting. I’m also looking forward to being part of a fantastic group of local poets.
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
I’m very excited and immensely grateful to have been selected as a New Northern Poet this year; it’s such a privilege to be given clear permission to really focus on my work, with the support of such a fabulous group of writers and mentors.
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.
You can follow Rachel on X: @Rachel__Curzon and Bluesky: @rcurzon.bsky.social
Nigeen Dara
I’m thrilled to be selected as a New Northern Poet! Excited to work with Word Up North and the University of Leeds Poetry Centre to create new work, I can’t wait to see where this role leads and what it inspires.
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.
You can follow Nigeen on Instagram: @nigeeenn and X: @Nigeendara
Jamie Field
As a proud Northerner and lover of poetry it is a huge honour to be a member of this year’s cohort. Thank you to Word Up North and their New Northern Poets programme. I’m looking forward to an exciting few months.
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
I feel so honoured to be selected. This is so meaningful for me as it relates to core parts of my identity as a poet and Northerner. I’m really looking forward to the mentoring aspect, and all that the role entails!
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
When I found out I was one of the six selected poets everything went silent for a moment because I couldn’t believe it! I know that this opportunity will be a highlight of my poetry career and I can’t wait to meet the other New Northern Poets and mentors.
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