LAYCOCK poet and teacher Gill Lambert’s newly-published collection of poems is the first such release by new company Yaffle.

Gill hosted a launch earlier this month in Ilkley and will be reading poems from the collection at many venues in the region over the next few months.

The collection of poems is called Tadaima which is the Japanese for ‘I Am Home’ and explores the theme of home and all its connotations.

Gill teaches creative writing, life skills and GCSE English at the Swarthmore Education Centre in Leeds, as well as creative writing and knitting in the local community.

She teaches workshops at Keighley Library, and more recently worked with people in recovery at Keighley drug and alcohol service Project 6.

She also runs the bi-monthly poetry nights Shaken in Sheeptown at Bojangles Bar in Skipton, and Word Club at the Chemic Tavern in Woodhouse, Leeds with partner Mark Connors.

Gill and Mark also compere at local events including Poetry at the Parsonage in Haworth.

Gill said: “I have always written poetry but I started sending it out to be published when I did an MA in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University in 2015.

“I won the Ilkley Literature Festival’s open mic competition in 2016 and my pamphlet Uninvited Guests was published in 2017 by Indigo Dreams.

“My collection is published by a new company Yaffle and it’s their first collection, although they have published two pamphlets.”

Gill took her MA after gaining a Bachelor of Arts in English and writing.

Her work has appeared in print in The Interpreter’s House, Strix and Prole, and online on Clear Poetry, Algebra of Owls and Runcible Spoon has also been included in anthologies published by Beautiful Dragons Press, Half Moon Books, Paper Swans Press, Indigo Dreams and Fair Acre Press.

Gill was commended in the Mother’s Milk pamphlet competition and in the Poetry Space summer competition last year.

Visit gilllambert.com for further information on the new collection.