Industry Insider – Starting and sustaining a career in poetry

As part of the Poetry and Spoken Word Group’s Autumn focus on ‘Working in Poetry’, this industry panel chaired by Rishi Dastidar with Laurie Bolger, Stephanie Conn and Belinda Zhawi dive into the different ways that poets and performers can sustain themselves across their careers.

Drawing on their wealth of experience, panellists will discuss sources of income beyond book royalties including teaching,  and partnerships and other practical tips for creative freelancers.

This event was in conjunction with our Poetry and Spoken Word Group (PSWG).

You may also be interested in...

27 October 2026

Many children’s authors and illustrators sell books at school events and this guidance sets out the various options for handling sales.

25 June 2026

As we await regulation to ensure control, transparency and remuneration for writers in the AI space, how are readers to identify human-authored work? What can authors do to assert their human-authored voice in an increasingly noisy field?