Just Keep On Bouncing

Encouragement from an angel on the run

Hello friends,

Harry New Year! I am writing this from snowy snowy Hamburg, where I performed last night in the stunning Elbphilharmonie (!) under the Legends Category (!!) as part of a Best of Poetry Slam event to a sold out room of 2200 people (!!!). It was the second largest crowd I have ever performed to (after the Royal Albert Hall gig in 2024), and I was equally proud to get a reaction from my broken German introduction that I had been practising for hours beforehand as I was amused to get absolutely no reaction whatsoever quoting Jamie Tartt in my sunflowers poem and confirming my suspicions that the word Twat doesn’t readily translate in the same way. In 2024 my new year’s resolution was to Be A Legend And Have A Great Time and the two years since have truly been my favourite so far, but it was still nice to have the first part formally acknowledged on the big screen in a country I called home for a year.

The event didn’t start until 22:30 and I wasn’t on stage until just gone midnight, which considering on New Year’s Eve we were in bed watching Great Pottery Throw Down at 10pm was the latest I have been awake by choice performed since my early Edinburgh Fringe days.

Which brings me to last year. Over Christmas my dad reminded me I had described my 2024 as Unstoppable and asked how I would sum up 2025, and I struggled to think of a one word answer. Having sat with it I would now say that it mostly felt like solidifying the unstoppableness (unstoppability?), or at least like it might not have all been a massive fluke. I was able to build on my Wonderful book/show with my imaginatively titled Wonderful 2.0 tour, take some of my favourite poets around the country with the Harry Christmas gigs, create a poetry poster empire (and finally tell my stamp story), and (mostly) navigate both having a one year old and being a Poetry Legend©, all while miraculously finishing the new book ready to do it all again!

Which brings me to this year. Two years ago I set myself a list of achievable resolutions such as deciding what my favourite shape was (Hexagon) and having a great hair day. This was in part a backlash against the idea of setting ourselves up to fail with unrealistic goals that just make us feel worse, and why I’ve tended to go for more of a general mantra/ethos in previous years. That being said I did have a very specific exercise goal of beating my brother running a 5k in under 20 minutes, and halfway round Margate Parkrun in December I was on track to do so but unsure if I would be able to keep it up all of the way. At which point a man overtakes me over my right shoulder, grinning, and says: “Your body is a natural spring, just keep on bouncing.” before effortlessly floofing off into the distance ahead. My first thought was of a natural spring of running water, but the fact he was the human embodiment of a slinky led me to believe he in fact meant the other kind. Either way rather than continuing to stomp along I started to try and emulate his floofiness as I went and just about slunk my own way to the finish line in 19:57.

In many ways 2026 is the most mapped out my professional life has ever been. My new book is out on 5th March (and available to pre-order now!) and I have booked in my most comprehensive tour yet from then until July (followed by my most comprehensive staying-at-home-not-touring for the rest of the year). The early dates have mostly sold out but there are still a few seats in Margate, Leeds, Brighton and Edinburgh, and Faversham has just gone on sale too, with a full poster to come next month (or a sneak preview here!). I have a larger following and a wider infrastructure around the new book than ever before and have had a year-long campaign of begging people to pre-order it so it gets in the Sunday Times Bestseller List so if I am allowing myself to dream dreams the word I would aim for for 2026 would be stratospheric (!).

That being said I have no idea how it is going to go, or what else is in store in amongst these best-laid plans, but as long as I am able to keep making art I am proud of and share it with people and make thousands of pounds selling posters I will continue to feel very lucky to do what I do. Five days in I’m feeling pretty good about things so far, so rather than stomping through whatever might lie ahead, I will aspire to keep a spring in my step, and to just keep on bouncing.

Living Davina Loca

One final couldn’t-possibly-have-been-predicted twist for 2025 was that after sharing my trying poem on her page and asking me to contribute to her book, Davina McCall was due to come to one of the Christmas shows so we could finally meet in person. Sadly something came up so she couldn’t make it but she did share my Dust poem the next morning, which I didn’t realise at the time was also her announcing that she had got married in secret the week before (and possibly had it read at her wedding?), and led to it being quoted (and misquoted) in the Mirror, The Sun, and the Daily Mail, among others. Just in case you are also not a regular reader of these, you can of course still get it as a beautiful print for your home !

Something Borrowed

Other than a jaunt to Hamburg, my first gig of the year is welcoming the fab Georgie Jones back to Margate for a return to Something Borrowed! Georgie was an absolute highlight of the Christmas shows, and I am so excited to welcome her back to marvellous Margs. This will be my last one for a while (have I mentioned I have a book coming out?) so I am excited to go out with a bang. If you can’t make it in person thankfully we still have some episodes backed up from last year to listen to, starting with the brilliant Lyndsay Rush aka Mary Oliver’s Drunk Cousin.

That’s me for now. This feels like the calm before the storm of bombarding you with tour dates and book news so I just wanted to say a massive thank you for bouncing with me so far. A massive part of what has made the past two years so brilliant has been having lovely people come to shows or simply support from afar, and I couldn’t do this without you. I hope you had a lovely Christmas and are feeling okay about the year ahead. Stay brilliant x