Listen out for poet Laura on radio

Laura Potts, 21, from Wakefield, was one of three new writers chosen this year to write for BBC Radio 3’s The Verb with Ian McMillan.

She was selected from thousands to become one of the BBC’s New Voices. The scheme is a joint initiative between BBC Radio 3, New Writing North, The Writing Squad and The Arvon Foundation. Laura’s collection of poems will be broadcast at 10pm on Friday, December 22 and should be available via the listen again facility shortly after broadcast.

Her work, ‘Sweet The Mourning Dew’, charts the experiences of those living with grief following war in the north of England. Laura will join the Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy and Hollie McNish on The Christmas Verb.

Each winner of the New Voices scheme has received expert mentoring and development support at BBC MediaCity in Salford and has taken a residential writing course with Arvon. They have also performed at the BBC’s poetry festival in Hull) and are set to read at the BBC’s Free-Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead in 2018.