Andy Craven-Griffiths – Head Judge Q&A (Poetry 2023)

Andy Craven-Griffiths is a writer and performer based in Leeds, UK, and works in various forms. 

As a poet, he has won poetry slams including Glastonbury, Manchester Lit Fest, and Munichslam. He has had poetry broadcast on TV and radio (BBC 2, Radio 1, Radio 4) and has published poems in various poetry journals.

Andy began playwriting as one of Radio 3’s Verb New Voices, 2016. He wrote and produced his first play, Joygernaut, which toured nationally from 2018 to 2020. In 2022, he completed a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester.

With his band, Middleman, he toured extensively, playing live sessions for Radio 1, 6 Music, and XFM. The band’s music was widely synchronised (NBA2K11, Channel 4, Channel 5).

As an educator, Andy has worked for Arvon, the NHS, Oxford University Press, The British Council, Rethink Mental Health charity and as an ambassador for First Story. He has run workshops for over 50,000 people over the past fifteen years. 

Head Judge Q&A:

1. What are you looking for in the entries?

I’m looking for surprises, for images and ideas that are clear, without being clichéd.

2. Which poets do you most admire?

My brother, John Berkavitch. After all, he got me interested in writing in the first place! I love Tony Hoagland for his mixture of the everyday with the profound, and his vulnerability and willingness to look at himself critically.

In more contemporary and local (to Britain) terms, collections I’ve loved recently have been Rachel Long’s My Darling from The Ashes, Hannah Lowe’s The Kids, Joelle Taylor’s The Woman Who Was Not There, and Emily Harrison’s pamphlet Grief Stitches. 

3. Do you have any tips for aspiring poets?

Lean into the personal and the specific. I believe the more specific and concrete we make our poems, the more universally they can be felt.

A couple of tips other poets have given me that I can pass on are:

• Make your images clear. Clarity of image is more important than ‘fanciness’ (thanks, Neil Rollinson).
• Don’t be afraid to include big ideas, or more than one idea in a poem (courtesy of Fiona Sampson).

4. What gives you more of a buzz, performing your work in front of an audience or leading poetry workshops for kids?

I love the buzz of writing something that pleases or surprises me, most of all. That’s the biggest tip I could give for any writing, which I rediscovered while studying for my PhD: write to entertain yourself first and foremost. Don’t try to guess what will please others as you have direct access to your own emotional and intellectual responses, but not to anybody else’s. 

The buzz of performing is different, it’s one of connecting, of a good conversation when you’re vulnerable and aren’t rejected. Or sometimes just of feeling praised, when the response is positive!