Judith Nicholls

“I love to try to bring a note of mystery to everyday happenings.”

About Judith Nicholls

Sandcastles washed away by the sea, a child wondering about Dad’s bald head, a disastrous picnic. Here are scenes from real life you will certainly recognise. But in Judith Nicholls’ poems, they are turned into myths and mysteries, grand stories, amusing songs or epic tales.

On the other hand, she takes the mighty Roman empire – and packs it up into 40 words!

Judith reads her poems in a slow, thoughtful way. If you listen to ‘Winter’, you can hear how she allows the music of each word to sound fully.

Judith makes use of traditional poetic forms, including ballad and riddle. Some of the poems have a refrain which makes them sound rather like a song.

At the age of seven, Judith Nicholls wrote her first poem, which was inspired by a Winnie the Pooh story. As a shy teenager, she found writing things down easier than talking. Her first job was working for a magazine, and then she became a teacher.

She has published over 50 books of children’s poetry and appeared on radio and television.

Judith likes to starts her poems off by writing on green paper with a 2B pencil.

Judith's recording was made on 9 May 2003 at The Audio Workshop, London and was produced by Richard Carrington.