Sara’s beautiful poem is in our current Special. We caught up for a chat.

Tell us about your poem “To My Adoptive Parents”.

It was inspired by an old friend, and I know that he feels that both adoptive and foster parents don’t get nearly as much recognition as they deserve for the love and energy that they put into helping so many, often very vulnerable, children. So it’s a love-letter to people like them and all they did and do.

Do you like writing poetry?

Writing poetry is very different from writing fiction. Frustrating and rewarding in equal measure! Poetry is of course about conveying a message, but sometimes it’s as much about ‘how’ it is conveyed as the message itself, so the pace or serenity colours how the reader feels about the poem.

As a former lawyer, I’m used to ensuring every word used has earned its place and justified inclusion. You can’t be a self-indulgent poet if you want the rhyming and rhythm and scansion to work, but it should feel natural and effortless to the reader – as though it’s just ‘meant’ to be that way. The reader shouldn’t notice internal, echoing rhymes, for example – not unless they’re analysing for their GCSE!

What other writing pursuits do you have?

Readers will recognise my name as a regular contributor of “Friend” short stories and I’m pleased that my second serial, “Hats Off to Augusta”, is being so well received. I also write for travel publications.

Who are some of your favourite authors and poets?

What I’m reading depends on my mood (and sometimes what clever reader friends recommend) but recently-enjoyed fiction includes Thomas Harding’s sweeping historical “Legacy: One Family, a Cup of Tea and the Company that Took On the World” and “Other Women” by Emma Flint. I’m presently reading Barbara Kingsolver’s clever take on Dickens: “Demon Copperhead'” But old favourites like “Persuasion” by Jane Austen and “The Knowledge of Angels” by Jill paton Walsh are never far from my book-pile.

What are your future writing plans?

I’m coming to the end of a six-part serial for, hopefully, a “Friend” later in the year, and meanwhile wrestling with various other ideas that present themselves, trying to decide whether they’re short stories or possibly even a novel. That’s the fun of fiction! Oh and, of course, looking forward to seeing some more of my poetry in the “Friend”.