Jean Sprackland (Canal and River Trust)

Jean Sprackland was commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival and the Canal & River Trust to write a cycle of poems inspired by a boating weekend along the Peak Forest Canal from Whaley Bridge to central Manchester. The resulting poems, Lock Songs, were performed at a special event at Hope Mill Theatre on 23 October 2016 as part of the Manchester Literature Festival.

Jean Sprackland is a poet and writer. She was the winner of the Costa Poetry Award in 2008 and the Portico Prize for Non-Fiction in 2012. Her poetry collections include Green Noise, Sleeping Keys, Tilt, Hard Water and Tattoos for Mother's Day. She has also published two acclaimed non-fiction books Strands and These Silent Mansions. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. 

You can download a PDF of the poems and listen to audio recordings of Jean reading the poems here.