Having a child takes you back to all those parts of your own childhood that you had hidden away.

When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light.

I write in that space between Ella's childhood and mine. I know it all sounds a bit sinister.

I always wanted a child. Being a mother is the central thing in my life.

You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart.

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.