Brenda Read-Brown
Associate
Brenda’s varied and interesting career encompasses a First Class Honours degree in Psychology, computer programming and project management and consultancy. She started writing poetry in 1997, and after a short spell in the Civil Service, became a freelance poet and arts project manager in 2001.
Brenda has won many slams (performance poetry competitions) and is also a prize-winning playwright. She has worked as a practitioner with people of all ages (literally 1 to 101!) and from all backgrounds. She works regularly in schools, and is Writer in Residence in HMP Shrewsbury, in the Oncology Unit at Cheltenham Hospital and in a GP surgery in Tewkesbury. She has managed a number of projects with The Reading Agency, and is currently co-ordinator of Poetry on Loan, an organisation that promotes contemporary poetry through public libraries in the West Midlands. Brenda is a Trustee / Director of Ledbury Poetry Festival.
“My work with older people and with cancer patients showed me the profound effect on people of an engagement with creative activity, even when carried out in a very low-key fashion. The evaluation of [the ArtLift] project shows measurable, as well as anecdotal effects, and I am a great believer in value for money! I have seen for myself the changes brought about in patients referred to me at GP surgeries where I run creative writing courses. Community projects and work in Shrewsbury prison have demonstrated the benefits of the arts to health and wellbeing in general.”