Nick Griffiths

Originally  from Birmingham (England), I have lived in Donegal since 1998. Natives would call me a blow-in, but I'm really a suck-in: pulled in by my wife; beautiful scenery; the friendliness of the locals; and their relaxed attitude to life in general, especially the concept of time.

I wrote some poetry in my youth, but produced none for years while I got on with work, married life and fatherhood.  A spell in hospital with nothing else to do, got me back into writing poetry.  This was followed by a creative writing course under the guidance of Denise Blake.  Later, some of her students formed a writing group. Whilst at Denise's house we used to work in her garden room: thus the name, "The Garden Room Writers."

Shortly after finishing Denise's course, I went to the first meeting of  North West Words, the brainchild of Eamonn Bonner. There I got hooked on  doing poetry readings.

Currently, having retired as a primary teacher, I can devote more time to writing, where I tend to specialise in poetry, but also do flash fiction and have produced the first draft of  a children's story.

I am also the co-ordinator of North West Word's "Poetry for Spaces" project where we put local poets' work on display in public places.