I’m a poet and arts administrator, and sometimes those identities overlap. I’ve worked for The Poetry Book Society, The Poetry School and The Poetry Society, and am currently working for an intergenerational arts charity and as a Trustee for The Poetry Archive. Click here for PAYE hi-jinks.
Hannah and the Monk is my first poetry collection, published by Salt in 2008, and Twenty-Four Seven Blossom, my second, was published in 2013. You can download recordings of individual poems direct from the Poetry Archive website. Now You Can Look, an illustrated poetry pamphlet, was published by The Emma Press in 2017. In 2021 is, thinks Pearl, another pamphlet, was published by The Emma Press.
My friend Mike Sims and I work together in our creative collective, Blown Rose. Our current joint interests are John Keats and micro-publishing. We published Paper Trail, our artist’s book in collaboration with Roy Willingham, in 2019; and A Joy Forever: a walk out with John Keats, our Keatsian compendium illustrated by Linda Hughes, came out from Paekakariki Press in 2022.
As a freelancer, my specialities are producing touring live lit shows, devising bookish projects with public involvement and mentoring literary project makers. See www.jaybird.org.uk for details of previous activities.
I grew up in Gloucestershire and now live in London.
On the socials, I advance and retreat: if I’m anywhere, I’m @juliamarybird. Click about here for details of readings, projects, articles, reviews and other poetry-related news.
Julia Bird 
Dear Julia, I would like to talk to you about this year’s Bridport literary festival (November). Can you email me and we could discuss? I really like the look of A Joy Forever, and your exciting poetry projects.
Of course! What’s the best email for you?
Hello Julia,
I saw you speaking in Newbury last week about the collaboration with Historic England and wanted to pick your brains about community participation in creative projects.
In particular I’m interested in the lessons you’ve learnt around engaging participants in past projects, be that around timescales and possible unforeseen pitfalls. In a nutshell, what has worked/not in terms of getting people engaged in the creative process?
I’m based in Bristol and am looking to develop an outdoor arts project that will hopefully look at divided/conflicted communities within Bristol and how to try and build bridges between these.
All the best
Aaron
Hello! Drop me a line at [email protected] and we can have a chat …