Last month, I spoke to poet and old friend Hadley-James Hoyles about his upcoming pamphlet Songs of the Hen Ogledd, Northern-ness, performance poetry and his literary roots. This is what we have to show for it. A charming and refreshing voice to speak to, his soft Scottish tones soothe and invite you to pay attention. This is the refined art of a poet and a teacher. — NS: I’ve been following your poetic movements from afar for the last few years, and I’ve noticed that you’ve been very involved with The Alcove: Performance Poetry in Edinburgh. Can you explain who and what this is?

The Yorkshire Bard: Songs of the Hen Ogledd — This month sees a very exciting release. North Yorkshire born poet Hadley-James Hoyles releases his most refined piece of work to date. …

A tale about the one time I didn’t drastically overprepare for leaving the house. — Before the pandemic I’d say I was a pretty sociable guy. Even my work was sociable. A lot of my time was taken up talking to different people, and truth be told I do miss it. Speaking to friends over Zoom or on the phone just isn’t the same, and…

It’s another weekend after a lazy week, which means various maps are sprawled across our oversized table with a serious discussion about possible walking routes to take today. …

You didn’t think that the Yorkshire Dales National Park was going to get the number 1 slot on TripAdvisor’s ‘Best National Parks in Europe’ list and me not talk about it, did you? — If you did think this, you’re mistaken. It’s such a tremendous award to be given at the end of January, the gloomiest month of the year. We’ve all had a pretty tough time at the beginning of this year and this sort of news is perfect for taking our minds…

A walk to Bolton Abbey via Addingham — So I’ve been walking with the same companion as my last piece again. Recently my longer walks have been with company, only going out for an hour or two when I’m on my own. I think it’s the company of other people that I miss the most when locked down…

Icy Yorkshire Ramblings — The snow went as quickly as it came. Last week we woke up and saw heavy snowfall, snowflakes being blown around gently in the wind looking like thousands of small white feathers as they softly tumble to the ground. Inuits would definitely have a word for it, alas we do…

Discussing sentimentality — For the last few weeks I’ve been meddling with my writing methods. Nothing that would be noticed by a reader, but I’ve been playing around with how I get my ideas from conception to publication so that things don’t become stagnant. I’ve previously just typed up pieces based on loose…

A different adventure with the Yorkshire water nymphs — Every Friday morning, sleet or sunshine, these women arrange to go swimming. There have been times that truly awful weather has put them off, but that doesn’t happen as much as you think it would. Or maybe, in fact, as much as it should. As I mentioned in Swimming with…