How do we contact you?

To contact Pip, you can use either of the methods below:

Alternatively, you can visit the contact page by clicking here. On the contact page you will find a form which you can fill in asking Pip to contact you.

How much does a poetry visit cost?

Full Day - £175 plus maximum of £15 expenses.

Morning - £100.

Performance - negotiable.

Why do they call you Pip?

Pip is short for Philip, as in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Which are the poems that you are most pleased to have written?

‘The Wise Young Owl’ (published as a poster by Folens).

‘A Harvest Mouse Asks …’ (published by The World Wildlife Fund).

‘Antrin Lichtnin’ (in Stand Literary Magazine).

‘Ship of Rules’ (Litfest winner).

‘A Word to The Unwise’ (published in PN Review 130).

How long have you been writing poems?

Eight years.

How many poems have you written?

A thousand for children,

and about the same for grown-ups.

Where do you get your ideas?

I read a lot, mainly poems.

I keep a notebook.

A poet has to keep using the senses.

And stretching the imagination.

Poets sometimes read dictionaries!

Ideas sometimes arrive while I am performing A POEM.

I am also told, by chidrens agents, what themes are wanted by upcoming anthologies.

But ideas also come from here, there and everywhere.

Fact file.

  • Pip the poet.
  • Catholic.
  • Married.
  • Five grown-up children.
  • Loves performing.
  • Writes a poem a day.
  • Born – Dunfermline, Scotland.
  • Went to school – in Broadstairs, Kent.
  • University – Edinburgh and OU.
  • College - De La Salle, Manchester.
  • Academic qualifications = BA(Hons), Cert. Ed., DASE, CCAS.
  • Travelled – Europe and The Middle East.
  • Favourite childrens poet – Paul Cookson.
  • Favourite mainstream poets – Thomas Hardy, Anne Ryland, D.A. Prince, Copland Smith, Charlotte Mew.