As part of this year’s Cut Selection we’ve caught up with previous winner Katie Brear whose poem Moments in Dust featured on the website in 2022. Here’s what she’s been up to since then:

“Since I was last on the Cut Collective site, I’ve continued my writing and reading interests and couldn’t be happier about appearing again as a feature.

“I’ve also continued on the same path in my profession as a social prescriber and community development worker for Heeley Development Trust which has led to a collaboration with Mark delivering a writing programme for the people of Heeley, Gleadless and surrounding areas. We’ve devised two seperate ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ programmes, one focusing on poetry, and one focusing on fiction and creative non-fiction, and the aim is to help folks express their thoughts, feelings and traumas in a safe and constructive way.

“The piece I’ve done for Cut is pulling on themes around single-parenthood, shame and patriarchal control through language.”

What we liked: We especially enjoyed the ways in which Katie’s poem experimented with formal conventions using found documents, erasure and prose poetry to explore her themes.

Katie’s Instagram: @katie_brear