Natalie Ann Holborow

Roses are red
Violets are cloying
Don't plagiarise writers
It's fucking annoying x

Editing Poems: Emphasising Clarity Over Complexity Is your poem “too simple” or just honest? This personal essay explores the fear of writing plainly, the pressure to sound poetic, and why simple poems often cut the deepest. With examples from Lang…

A blog post about editing poems that features some of my very worst drafts from the depths of my Google Drive and why I now cringe at them, enjoy. Includes some tips and exercises if you're currently stuck creatively. ❤

natalieholborow.com/2025/12/28/e...

Inheritance It used to be: you worried about money, maybe a decent school, if you had a house with a lawn where they could pull up worms and know the world from the earth up.  These days I'm distracted by the coral dying in real-time, the river rustling brown, the whale that might beach itself on my driveway like a huge refuse sack, a jangle of fishbones. What would it mean to bring a child here? A glacier slumps like an animal too tired to stand.  We're running out of names for what's on fire.  When we say heatwave, we'll mean something  that shoves its hands against our throats and leaves a burn.  Yet some days, the earth surprises me. I turn a clod and there's life in it – small, hard-won, a stubborn dandelion with its sparky fronds. And I don’t know if it’s selfish or hopeful to think about what I’d give her: a hard inheritance maybe, but an inheritance all the same – a world where roots curl deep, where the land can heal and where she, in her time, will know what it means to plant.

Not a Christmas poem, but a here's a poem with a little sprinkle of hope. ✨️🌿

Psychic abilities would be cool, not to predict my fate but to work out where the fuck Evri have put my parcels x

Country Focus - Food and Community Across Wales - BBC Sounds Exploring food, trail running and community spirit across Wales.

Chatting about Wild Running, nature, creativity and my love for North Gower in this episode of BBC Country Focus 💚🌿

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Like running? Like writing? There's a monthly newsletter for that (yes, I've finally got off my arse and started one). Subscribe here to get route recommendations, writing prompts, horrid playlists and post-run recipes.

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No one:

Writers working on their next manuscript: "wow okay that's loads, time for a break now"

Thanks for sharing, Gordon! ❤️

Wild Running ticket Join us for an evening in conversation with Natalie Ann Holborow about her new book Wild Running. When: 17/9/25 18:30 start (doors 18:10) Where: 26a Crwys Road, CF24 4NL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There wil...

Like running? Like books? Around Cardiff this evening?

Wild Running is launching on 18th September at Bookspace Cardiff! Tickets available here if you do plan on joining: www.bookspacecardiff.co.uk/products/wil...

Don’t forget you can pre-order ‘Wild Running’ on our website or in your local bookshop www.serenbooks.com/book/wild-ru...

Writers: "I hope someone reads my writing!"

Also writers: "oh god no, people are reading my writing, please stop that, it's making me panic and want to live in a hole"

Wild running gives me freedom, but I’m always looking over my shoulder In this abridged extract from award-winning poet and writer Natalie Holborow’s new book ‘Wild Running’, she follows a trail around the Brecon Beacons in South Wales while reflecting on women’s safety

A little extract of Wild Running in The Independent this morning, exploring Pen Y Fan and focusing on women's safety in running 🏃‍♀️ @serenbooks.bsky.social

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/w...

BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, The Adverb at the Hay Festival 2025 Ian McMillan presents poets in performance for The Verb's performance wing, The Adverb.

This is such a welcome, life-affirming & diverse edition of BBCRadio4 The Verb. Top form delivery from @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social @lenniesaurus.bsky.social, Alex Wharton, @natholborow.bsky.social & Ian McMillan
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it ❤️

For the last couple of weeks, @natholborow.bsky.social & I have been in a poetry frenzy working on poems representing the Major Arcana & the zodiac signs... Really pleased with how they've turned out 🖊✨

Here's Cancer & Scorpio ♋️♍️

#Cancer #Scorpio #Zodiac #Horoscope #Astrology #Poetry

It's all feeling very real now! Luckily I've got a new poetry project with @natholborow.bsky.social to throw myself into while I worry about the launch of Witsh 👌🏼😂

#Writing #witchcraft #wales #historicalfiction

Glad it's not just me! If you need someone to keep you accountable, I'm always here because I'm going through exactly the same 😅

oh not ozzy 😔

This all feels quite new, but it's a more complicated process than I expected! Plot is one thing that's never really taught at MA, so tried to make sure that was all sorted first but my god these characters are stubborn. Like, no, I MADE YOU GUYS.

It's doing my head in! I want to get a first draft down but the characters have minds of their own. Which, I suppose, is a good thing, because they feel more real. Are you writing fiction as well?!

*plots novel*
*starts writing*
Characters: hahaha no lol x

This has been a dream to work on and a nice break to write about history, creativity and falling down hills on my backside in beautiful South Wales. Out September 15th! Pre-order here: www.serenbooks.com/book/wild-ru...

#running #writing #trailrunning

I love the Gangsta 😂❤️

Embracing the Present: What Writers Can Learn From Pets What can pets teach us about writing? This is in praise of the animals who teach us to live in the moment.

What can our beloved pets teach us about writing?

natalieholborow.com/2025/07/06/e...

Text reads: "Jamie Woods is one of those rare poets who can coolly hold a mirror to the darkness, then crack a grin in the reflection and make it look natural. Black Skies Die Starless hums with the energy of grunge, rave and rain-slick Swansea backstreets, blisteringly alive with honesty, wit and hard-won tenderness. An absolute riot of a book. Read it now" - Natalie Ann Holborow. Then it says: black skies die starless, jamie woods, 1st July 2025, punkdust.com and all good bookshops.

"AN ABSOLUTE RIOT OF A BOOK"
In between award ceremonies for her poetry & fiction, and writing a non-fiction book about running, the awesome @natholborow.bsky.social has taken the time to read BLACK SKIES DIE STARLESS and then wrote about it.
Buy it now. Punkdust.com and all good bookshops
#poetry

Wales Book of the Year stuff. I look like I'm doing a Squid Game trial and am being forced to read for my life, but I do like poems honest x

If you want to support Little Universe, you can vote for it here:
nation.cymru/culture/vote...

Thank you, Christa!

Thanks very much! 💚

Also need to add, I am LOVING your book. Recommending it to all my friends!

I'm currently stuck on one about Pingu and Robbie in an Antarctic nightclub. I may have to move onto the bee and wasp one for a bit.