Hosted by poet and broadcaster, Jake Morris-Campbell, the Write About Walking showcase event introduces the shortlisted authors of the walk · listen · create / Sound Walk September writing competition, and includes readings of their poetry and prose.

Run by the Museum of Walking and Sampson Low Publishers the walk · listen · create writing competition attracted scores of entries. We asked Lydia Kennaway and Claudia Zeiske, our current writers-in-residence to choose a theme for this year’s competition. The competition required writers to compose poems or prose of 250 words and under, inspired by the theme of “walking home”.

The shortlisted pieces are published in WALKING (2022) an illustrated chapbook anthology and issued as an audio book, sale proceeds of which go to support future walk · listen · create writing competitions. Copies of the book can be purchased – scroll down for further information.

The winners and runners-up in each of the poetry and prose categories will be announced at the event – with the accolade of on-line Poet & Prose Writer-in-Residence for 2023 walk · listen · create and for Sound Walk September 2023 going to the winners in each category.

We are grateful to the Museum of Walking for providing financial support towards the prizes and the showcase.

Running order of Authors shortlisted and their pieces:

Kim V. Goldsmith (story) “New Year’s Day” – their inspiration: “I make myself walk several times a week not so much for creative inspiration but to clear my head and because it’s good for me. I’m also easily distracted on these walks, stopping to notice the small details within the landscape that change day by day, week by week, season by season.”

Mark Goodwin (poetry) “i did” – their inspiration: “Ever since my starting-out to learn poetry-making I’ve been enthralled by the phenomenon of place … and as I progressed I became fascinated by how as embodied creatures we are in-placed … and also how we express and navigate our being in and through place. Both my poetry books with Longbarrow Press – Steps & Rock as Gloss – deal directly with mapping & navigation … and i did is a continuation of such orientational concerns … but homes in on the complex & creased tension between (and contained in) journeying––&––dwelling …“

Cheryl Markosky (prose) “Walk of Life” – their inspiration: “I’m charting the walk my great-grandmother made at the beginning of the 20th century from Silesia, a region that lies mostly within Poland, to the Crowsnest Pass in the Canadian Rockies, where I grew up. I imagine her navigating the perils of hunger, fast-flowing rivers, dark forests and the loss of infants – all braided with the common theme of medicinal pine trees, which punctuated her life. And mine.”

Marcelle Newbold (poetry) “Returning” – their inspiration: “The journey home is a timeless routine of consistencies – place, sound, locomotion, activity. ‘Returning’ verbalises a connection with the ancient.“

Tony Horitz (poetry) “Of Blood and Water” – their inspiration: “As I have aged, I’ve grown increasingly interested in researching my late father’s Czech Jewish ancestry. I want to write poetry that explores the strange gaps and connections between past and present –  so I’ve spent time imagining the grandparents I never knew, trying to tell their story in a way that honours them for their lives as well as their deaths at the hands of the Nazis. My poem ‘Of Blood and Water’ is based on a real, recent incident – visiting the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague and finding my grandparents’ gravestone, which had fallen down and was buried beneath ivy. The image of bringing something to light literally led to my trying to illuminate their lives and deaths in the Holocaust through poetry.”

Helen Harradine (prose) “The Scholars’ Path” – their inspiration: “My piece is inspired by a real pathway on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides where children used to walk to and from school every morning and evening. It is an incredible part of The Hebridean Way which I hiked back in 2019. There was a heatwave that year and we reached this particular path as the sun was setting and camped up there in the hills.“

Ines R Amado (poetry) “Walking Home” – their inspiration: “To me dislocation is a continuous state of being. Thus I decided to write about walking home.“

Jan Howcroft (prose) “A Deep Intake of Breath” – their inspiration: “This piece was inspired by a walk in Epping Forest.  The bird we found beside the car on our return set the mood for the story.“

Sue Dawes (prose) “Unpicking the Thread” – their inspiration: “Unpicking the Thread  was inspired by a selection of words given in the WLC Walking Home creative writing workshop led by EL Rhodes.  Although the phrase ‘footsore’ didn’t end up featuring in the finished piece, it was key to unlocking memories of parenting small children, and the creative process.“

Megan Hicks(poetry) “Transfer” – their inspiration: “The poem arose from an incident that happened on my way home from work some years ago. I was only peripherally involved. Or was I more involved than I realised at the time?“

Cheryl Markosky (prose) “The Chalk Walk: OS Explorer Map 143” – their inspiration: “We often take “the chalk walk”, a path through the Wiltshire chalk landscape above our home village of Sherrington, where we encounter fields with a Roman mound, cattle – and yes, sometimes bulls. My story incorporates the walk with a nod to our son, Jack, who enjoyed larking about along this route as a boy. There’s also a reference to a plaque in Sherrington Church, which is dedicated to Saints Damian and Cosmos, that commemorates the life of another boy who died far too young several decades ago.“

David Thompson (poetry) “An Afternoon Walk in the Jura” – their inspiration: “For some years, I lived on the slopes of the Jura north of Lake Geneva. I have vivid memories of exploring the forests and high pastures above my village, with all their scents, sounds and wildlife. The WLC project seemed the ideal opportunity to try to capture some of the sensations inspired by one such walk in a poem.“

Purchase a copy of WALKING 2022 – an illustrated anthology of poems and stories on the theme of “Walking Home” for €4.99+p&p (see image to the left) or go for a bundle of WALKING 2022 AND WALKING 2021 – a similar illustrated anthology of poems and stories on the theme of “Walking and Listening”- a bumper package of 27 poems and stories and save €1.50 (see image to the right). Purchase from our Shop.