Reviews

“Emily Wills' first collection is a gem. She focuses on familiar themes — birth, childhood, old age — with surgical precision, using spare concrete imagery to dazzling effect.”

Catherine Smith, The Frogmore Papers

“Diverting the Sea … has a substantial set of voices in its clustering of themes and preoccupations emanating from a sensitive standpoint inside the ordinary. Wills has the ability to dwell on people with the loving curiosity of a painter …”

Stephen Waling, The North

“This poet is capable of interesting slants on her subjects and is handy with a telling phrase … But it has to be said she is not so good at entering the worlds of strangers or tackling wider themes—Hilda (about a hospital domestic) … The Weigh-In (about an overweight Polish refugee) were all, to me, exercises in banal and patronising stereotyping … This is an uneven collection, but at its best suggests a developing talent.”

Gordon Wardman, Prop

“… thanks again for a lovely reading. You deliver the poems in a confident and measured manner — and they're lovely poems! We certainly enjoyed having you at the Troubadour.”

Anne-Marie Fyfe

“Emily is not only a professional poet: she's obviously a professional teacher of poets, too. From the two workshops I've been to, I came away with new ideas, material for development, and critical responses to work in progress: enough fuel and encouragement to nourish a whole new phase of writing.”

Jane Mace 2008

“Excellent tutor — mind expanding”

“… has made me aware I can write more than I thought I could.”

“… an excellent tutor having the ability of understanding each individual also giving confidence.”

WorkOut With Words workshop participants