Almost a year ago we welcomed John Foggin and his first blog for Write Out Loud to our home page with an appropriate fanfare. It is only right that we should mark his final Great Fogginzo’s Wider Web blog with a fond farewell. We’re sorry but understand why John has decided he needs a break. We just want to say thanks for all the blogs, for his energy in putting them together, and for the insights and enthusiasm that he has given us within them. He has produced all these blogs while co-running a monthly poetry night at Sowerby Bridge. As he says in his final blog, he is now stepping down from that role, too. Over his 42 blogs he has offered tips on how to win poetry competitions – he’s won a few himself – writing poetry about real people, the poetry of landscape, open mics, and how to get the best out of residential poetry courses. And if only a few of you have been inspired by his perceptive analysis of what makes poems work, and his love for and enjoyment of so many poets – and we know that many of you have – it has all been very much worth it. Thank you, John, for bringing a breath of fresh air from the northern hills to Write Out Loud! 

You can read all John Foggin’s previous blogs for Write Out Loud here