Last week, I submitted my début (adult) poetry collection for typesetting. Considering I've been writing & performing poetry for 20 years, it felt like quite a 'moment.' So, I've written a post which answers six key questions, to try & capture this & provide as much honest insight as possible.

🆕️ This week's 30 Years of Hurt features Princess Diana's final week of married life, with plans to switch royal duties for humanitarian work. The Evening Standard publish one of the most notorious football headlines of modern times. And two major singles would define the era.

🆕️ This week's edition 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝗼𝗯 gathers some reflections on the 2025/26 academic year. Whether you plan to visit schools as a poet or not, these reflections will hopefully be valuable to you in some way. mattabbottpoet.substack.com/p/reflecting...

Reflecting on the 2025/26 academic year

What does it tell us about poetry, about being a poet, and about the world?

mattabbottpoet.substack.com

🆕️ This week's edition of 30 Years of Hurt features Oasis playing two era-defining shows at Knebworth, NASA making us giddy with a hint at Martian lifeforms, and Alan Shearer's Newcastle début. 30 years ago this week in pop culture, politics & football 🎶📰⚽️ 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/oasis-do-k...

🆕️ This week's edition 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐛 takes a look at creating quality promo content for your poetry collection. It's absolutely not a 'how-to guide' to go viral or guarantee huge sales — those things are beyond me. What it hopefully does... mattabbottpoet.substack.com/p/creating-q...

🆕️ This week's edition of 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 features Oasis playing two epic 'warm-up shows' at Loch Lomond, Nigeria making history by winning Olympic gold, Michael Johnson breaking a world record, plus plenty more! 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/from-the-s...

Also 30 years ago today, Manic Street Preachers released Everything Must Go. It's a highly emotive single — cited by lyricist Nicky Wire as being “a message to the fans” following the mysterious disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards the previous year.

Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (Official Video)

YouTube video by ManicStPreachersVEVO

youtu.be

30 years ago today, the Spice Girls were at No.1 in the UK singles charts with Wannabe, having knocked Gary Barlow's Forever Love from the summit. They celebrated reaching the top spot with a raucous night on the Tokyo tiles. The party culminated at a karaoke bar...

🆕️ This week's edition of '30 Years of Hurt' features more Spice Mania, with 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘦 now at No.1! There's also drama both on and off the track at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, an emotional message to the fans in the new Manics single, and a few landmark court cases that ruffled a lot of feathers.

🆕️ This week's edition of '30 Years of Hurt' features Spice Girls fever sweeping around the globe, Newcastle United agreeing a colossal £15m fee for Alan Shearer, the Summer Olympics launching in Atlanta, and the New York premiere of 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/spice-girl...

This week's edition of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐛 is a celebration of the Poetry By Heart competition. On Monday, I was part of the judging team at the Grand Final. If you work in a school or college in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and think this sounds like a great idea, register for free 🎤 mattabbottpoet.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

This week's edition of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐛 is a celebration of the Poetry By Heart competition. On Monday, I was part of the judging team at the Grand Final. If you work in a school or college in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and think this sounds like a great idea, register for free 🎤 mattabbottpoet.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

🆕️ This week's edition of 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 features the meteoric arrival of the Spice Girls (yes, it's 30 years today since 'Wannabe' was released), a state visit from Nelson Mandela, the Drumcree crisis, and a hugely influential rave on the M41. 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/the-spice-... 📰🎶⚽️

🆕 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞 This week's edition of 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 features the historic birth of Dolly the Sheep, a landmark London Pride, the Stone of Destiny's return home, and an exciting new signing on Teesside. Check it out 🎶📰⚽️ 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/the-sheep-...

🆕️ 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞 This week's edition of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐛 contains craft notes and insights for my poem that was recently Highly Commended in The Caterpillar Poetry Prize. It's free for everybody to read, so have a butcher's 🐛

BTS on my Highly Commended kids’ poem

Notes and insights into my poem that placed in The Caterpillar Poetry Prize

mattabbottpoet.substack.com

🆕 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞 This week's edition of 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 features England's semi-final heartbreak, plus the unsavoury scenes that followed at Trafalgar Square. Elsewhere in the week commencing 24 June 1996... 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/penalty-he... 🎶📰⚽️

🆕️ 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 This week's edition features some Major Beef, England's masterclass over the Dutch, and a seismic divorce settlement in Windsor! 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/major-beef...

Congratulations to @anniellewe.bsky.social on winning this year's Caterpillar Poetry Prize! I'm buzzing to have been Highly Commended alongside her.

Anna Llewellyn wins Caterpillar Poetry Prize

A man teaching the birds to sing captivated this year’s judge

irishtimes.com

🆕️ 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞 The latest edition of 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 sees the launch of Euro '96 (and my first ever football game), an intensifying debate around "Heroin Chic" in the fashion world, a record-breaking single from The Fugees, doubts over the Dome, and some incredible photos from the YEP archives.

Tournament Fever, “Heroin Chic” & Doubts Over The Dome

30 years ago this week in pop culture, politics & football

30yearsofhurt.substack.com

This week's edition of 𝟑𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 features multiple scandals, a Royal divorce, the long-awaited return of The Doctor, and mismatched fortunes for the Foxes and the Eagles. Read it now and subscribe at 👇🏻 30yearsofhurt.substack.com/p/the-doctor...

A pair of lush Sunday morning writing workshops coming up from @mlferg.bsky.social, with all proceeds donated to Papyrus — a young person's suicide prevention charity. £12.50 each or both for £20. They'll sell fast! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/writing-fo...

Me and Dad at the football on Sunday. #lufc's final home game of the season, and what felt like the end of an era, with redevelopment already underway. The more time that passes, the more this place means to us. If it were merely sport, none of us would bother. Where you come to truly feel alive 🤍🦚

I'm over the moon to be on hosting duties for this one 🙌🏻

LIVEwire Poetry ⚡️@livewirepoetry.org · 3mo ago

𝗟𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗸! This Friday, Blur The Lines reaches a colossal landmark when it takes over City Varietes as part of Leeds Jazz Festival. Blur The Lines has established itself as one of Leeds' best-loved and most dynamic regular nights, and we're buzzing to see Lence take this huge step up.

Big thanks to @mattabbottpoet.com whose latest substack is about facilitating poetry for wellbeing, taking inspiration from our schools project, Steph's Poetry Space. Matt picks out some favourite poems & offers great ideas for exercises to do around them mattabbottpoet.substack.com/p/poetry-for...

Poetry for Wellbeing

Experienced full-time poet Matt Abbott presents a few wellbeing-based poetry exercises for you to try or use in workshops.

mattabbottpoet.substack.com

My latest post on Substack is free for everybody to read and features some poetry writing exercises based around wellbeing ✍️🏻

Poetry for Wellbeing

Experienced full-time poet Matt Abbott presents a few wellbeing-based poetry exercises for you to try or use in workshops.

open.substack.com

Eyup! I recorded this for TikTok, but I thought I'd may as well share it on here. This is one of my favourite poetry writing exercises. It's targeted at teens upwards. If you have a go, I'd love to see some of your favourite lines in the comments ✍️🏻

Nice to see this news piece about our recent eco-poetry project with poets @mattabbottpoet.com & Cassandra Parkin, schools in Rotherham and green engineering firm AESSEAL! www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/people/...

'Powerful' young poets imagine a greener future

YOUNG poets shared their views on nature, wildlife and recycling at a showcase held at AESSEAL’s Rotherham headquarters.

rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk

🆕️ 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞 Essay #8 in my monthly series on writing and publishing a poetry collection. This time, I talk through the process of submitting your manuscript to prospective publishers: a crucial milestone!

Submitting your collection to publishers

Essay #8 in the series on creating & publishing a poetry collection

mattabbottpoet.substack.com

A massive bag full of books at New Pudsey station can only mean one thing... school visit in London!! 🚇➡️ Wimbledon Park Primary School

🆕️ 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞 I thought it'd be useful to provide a 'behind the curtains' glimpse at the editorial journey behind my new poem. It's tricky to go into too much detail with your general editorial process because every poem is so different, so hopefully, this post will be of some use.

Behind the curtain: my poem in Magma 94

The story and editorial process behind the poem, plus a video recording

mattabbottpoet.substack.com