I’ve had two of these this week. If it feels too good to be true, it probably is:
#authorscams
Month: February 2026
Writing prompts for St Valentine’s Day
I’m looking forward to catching up with my Cambridge writers later today. Here are some prompts so that you can join us, wherever you are:
What is this day with two suns in the sky?
Day unlike other days,
With a great voice giving it to the planet,
Here it is, enamoured beings, your day!
(Quatrain, Rumi, 1207-1273)
You, Beloved, who are all
the gardens I have ever gazed at,
longing. An open window
(You who never arrived, Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926)
The highway is full of big cars
going nowhere fast
And folks is smoking anything that’ll burn
Some people wrap their lives around a cocktail glass
And you sit wondering
where you’re going to turn
I got it.
Come. And be my baby.
(Come, and be my baby, Maya Angelou, 1928-2014)
A sad sort of rain,
today, and I inside, alone,
look at the pictures I took of you
in London and Paris and Spain.
(Rain, Margaret Newlin, 1925-2005)
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face
(When you are old, WB Yeats, 1865-1939)
Agony! Pain hangs in my heart. Is it she?
It cannot be. Walk on. In the blue, a star.
(The street in shadow, Antonio Machado, 1875-1928)
Last night at my daughter’s, near Blaine,
she did her best to tell me
what went wrong
between her mother and me.
‘Energy. You two’s energy was all wrong.’ (Energy, Raymond Carver, 1938-1988)
Poetry and Prosecco in Canterbury, UK
On Saturday 7 March, 2026, from 7.30pm, Sarah Briault is bringing POETRY & PROSECCO to north Kent again for another ‘fun, bubbly evening‘.
I am really excited to be one of the featured poets reading alongside MAGGIE HARRIS and BARNABY HARSENT. We’ll be in the glamorous surroundings of the Oriole Cafe at Kent County Cricket’s Spitfire ground in Canterbury. Your ticket price includes a glass of Prosecco or non-alcoholic drink, and the chance to read your own words in the OPEN MIC. If you’re on Facebook, you can find the event here, with a photograph of Sarah reading ‘Safe Ground’, my latest published by Mica Press last spring.
Tickets are through Eventbrite HERE.
It’ll be raining writers in Faversham soon!
FAVERSHAM LITERARY FESTIVAL IS BACK SOON! For 10 days between 20 February and 1 March, 2026, FavLit will steep Faversham, Kent’s most beautiful medieval town, in marvellous authors again, more exciting than ever. I will be hosting the free POETRY HUB on Saturday 21 February, in the GUILDHALL between 3 and 8.30pm (full list here). Headliners are Richard Skinner and Jean Atkin at 6pm, and I have the honour of reading alongside Maria McCarthy and Charlotte Ansell from 5pm. (I’m behind the bar too in St Mary’s church for most of the main week.) From 7 to 8.30pm on Saturday, Angela Dye hosts the OPEN MIC. All these poetry events are free – please just turn up.
And on Sunday 22 February between 3 and 4pm, I’m hosting the Local Author Showcase in the Guildhall. This is a quickfire presentation of three minutes each, against the clock. Come and have a go! Everybody’s welcome. Yes, I’m bringing my shepherd’s crook again in case anybody overruns…
WRITING BUDDIES & QUIET WRITING
Pencils and what-not, ipads, laptops, phones, we can write with anything these days. Yet there are still times when the words flow like cold porridge. The solution is two interlocking things. One is that if you’re a writer, you need writing time, lots of it, securely ring-fenced, guilt-free. The second is being among other writers, especially warm, supportive darlings who are fun to be with. The combination is sometimes known as Writing Buddies.
From this month, I am starting local ‘buddies’ groups, for writers to get together in person for special time like this:
On the SECOND SUNDAY AFTERNOON of each month between 2 and 4pm, we’ll be in The Old Curiosity Shop, Harbour Street, Broadstairs, Kent. That’s 8 February, 8 March and so on, and
On the SECOND WEDNESDAY EVENING of each month, you’re invited to Chapters Coffee & Books in Sturry High Street, near Canterbury. We’ll gather from 6.30pm, for two hours writing and socialising between 7 and 9pm. If you’d like to write through the whole two and a half hours, feel free.
I hope you’ll find a time to suit you. This is just informal gathering, not a course – you’re welcome to join me to concentrate quietly on your own writing as you like and to meet other writers. Please bring your writing materials and enough £ to buy your refreshments.
Rosie Johnston 