Ruth Gasson
A writer and creative practitioner with a keen interest in the arts and mental health. The fourth Bard of Northampton, I want to make a difference to individuals and communities through working with the hard to reach.
Experienced at organising events and bringing people together, I was previously a Director for the Umbrella Fair Organisation and a contributor on BBC Radio Northampton.
Excluded from school at fifteen for being 'stupid' and having the wrong colour hair, I have gone on to have an exciting and varied professional career working overseas, at the famous residential recording studio ‘Rockfield’, and as an events planner/host for large scale music and sporting events for Barclaycard.
In 2005, I was diagnosed as dyslexic, a catalytic moment which gave me the confidence to follow my dreams, and in June 2010, I graduated with First Class Honours in Creative Writing.
In 2012, I was elected as the fourth Bard of Northampton by the people of the town. During my year as Bard, I worked to introduce Spoken Word to children and young people through running workshops in schools and libraries, and developed the young Bard competition.
In December of 2013, I was awarded one of only ten National Literacy Heroes by the National Literacy Trust and HRH the Duchess of Cornwall for my work and my own journey with my learning differences.
In 2016/17, I was the Reader in Residence at both HMP Swinfen Hall and HMP Whitemore. I ran shared reading groups to promote reading, well-being and positive mental health within the Psychologically Informed Planned Environment Settings (PIPEs) in these prisons.
I have been published in local and national newspapers, and poetry magazines and am the featured poet in the book 'Some of us Scream, Some of us Shout', which focuses on the anarchist punk scene of the 1980's.
I was invited to read alongside George Szirtes at the Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival ‘Beginning in Gladness’ event at The University of Warwick.
I have worked within libraries, schools and prisons, as well as mental health and substance rehabilitation settings, and since 2018, I have worked at the University of Northampton.
In 2021, I have been working on a collection of poems based on my roles working in the public sector. One of these poems, 'Sectioned', has been selected to feature the first issue of a Public Sector Poetry Journal and is available to read online and download via: www.publicsectorpoetry.co.uk/journals.