It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal.

Poetry and prayer are very similar.

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.

I think poetry can help children deal with the other subjects on the curriculum by enabling them to see a subject in a new way.