Kathryn, what were you doing before you came to UEA?
I worked in the rights department of a publishing house for three years, then quit my job (which I was never much good at) to see some of the world.

What prompted you to apply to UEA, and to the Poetry MA in particular?
I was 27 and wandering around the world with a backpack when I was called home because my father was ill. He died very suddenly and it was a terrible time, but it made me think seriously about what I was doing with my life, and I knew the only thing I really loved doing was writing. I'd written poems since I was a kid, and had a few published in small magazines, but it had always been a rather clandestine activity. I didn't know any other writers, but I'd heard of the UEA course, so I applied.

Can you say a little about how the course was structured, and who taught you and what sort of things you were writing?
We had a three hour workshop once a week for which we took turns presenting work. Andrew Motion and Denise Riley taught us, two very different writers who provided excellent contrast in their teaching and writing styles. We were lucky to have an extra weekly workshop with Christopher Reid who was visiting for a term. In addition to the writing workshops I took a class in American Autobiography and one called Adaptation and Interpretation. For the third term there was no teaching at all, and we were left to our own devices to finish a short collection of poems. I think I was probably writing quite a lot of drivel, but pushing myself to write better drivel.

Were you also writing short stories and plays at that time?
No, at the time I didn't have the headspace or confidence to write prose, although I enjoyed the Adaptation class because it meant I could write dialogue. I've never understood the invisible fences between different forms of writing - there's no reason why a scriptwriter can't write a poem or a poet write a short story. It was only after the course that I felt free enough to write other things.

How would you describe your experience on the MA?
The course was a shot in the arm. I think for the first term I was on a high, meeting like-minded people, talking about books, reading, gossiping, drinking, all the things that writers love. And actually being allowed to sit in a room making stuff up, not even hiding it away if someone else came in, that was a complete novelty. I settled down of course, and the whole thing was over in no time. In retrospect, I'm glad I took the MA in Poetry - the poets were like poor relations, we were of no interest to agents, so we just concentrated on writing rather than worrying about a publishing deal.

What happened next for you? There was an Eric Gregory Award the year you graduated...
I'd applied for an Eric Gregory before coming to UEA, and was lucky enough to be selected the year I graduated. After the course I stayed in Norwich for a year, did a series of grim temping jobs, and sat in my room writing. That was a tough time because most of my friends had gone, and I was left with a bunch of unfinished poems and an overdraft. But my poems were getting accepted in magazines, and I still wanted to write, so I just got on with it.

Your poetry has been published quite widely and won a few awards...?
If you write poetry you have to submit to magazines before a publisher will take you seriously, so it's part of the process. The inevitable rejection slips help toughen you up, and the acceptances keep you going. Competitions are worth entering for the same reason - they can help raise your profile and you also have the chance of winning a few quid. Even if you aren't lucky, the closing dates give you a deadline to work towards. An important step for me was being a prizewinner in a poetry competition run by Smith/Doorstop, who published a small collection of my poems called Snug. The editor at Seren happened to see this pamphlet and then asked me to submit a manuscript.

It's interesting that you write short stories and plays as well. Is there a form in which you feel most at home, or least at home?
I started writing short stories after the course, and then got hooked and completely fell in love with the form. Plays are a new thing for me so I'm learning all the time. I suppose I've been writing poetry the longest, so should feel more comfortable with that, but I think it's dangerous for a writer to feel too at home with any form, and it's nearly impossible: every time you sit down to write it's just you and the page, so nothing you've done before counts. Maybe that's part of the writing addiction, you're always being given a new chance to ‘fail again, fail better', to use Beckett's phrase.

Seren have published Sunday at the Skin Launderette, and it's been made a Poetry Society recommendation. Is this a gathering together of the poems you've been publishing in magazines and so on?
Yes. A friend asked me recently ‘So, is this your life's work?' and rather sadly, I had to admit that it probably was.

What's next for you? What are you working on now?
I'm working on a short film which is an adaptation of one of my stories. There's also a stage play that I've been scratching away at slowly. I've always wanted to try writing a novel, that's the biggest challenge for me, and now the poetry collection is out and I can't fiddle around with it any more, there are no excuses. Which is why I should probably take the Scrabble application off my Facebook page.

Interview: February 2008