Emily Blewitt’s debut collection of poetry, This Is Not A Rescue, is out now! It is published with Seren Books. Information about readings and events can be found here.
Emily Blewitt was born in Carmarthen in 1986, and grew up in a small town on the Carmarthenshire coast. She read English Language and Literature at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and has an MA in Film and Literature from the University of York. In 2010 she returned to Wales to begin a PhD in English Literature at Cardiff University, where she specialised in poetic representations of pregnancy in nineteenth-century and contemporary women’s writing, graduating in 2016. She has published poetry widely, her work appearing in The Rialto, The North, Planet, Prole, The Interpreter’s House, Ambit, Poetry Wales, Furies, Cheval, Nu2: Memorable Firsts, and in Brittle Star. The title poem from her debut collection, This Is Not A Rescue, was Highly Commended for best individual poem in the 2016 Forward Prizes, and is published in The Forward Book of Poetry 2017.
Her poetry also features online in And Other Poems, The Woven Tale Press, Hinterland, ‘Voicing Shadows, Singing Light’, Pomegranate, Cadaverine, and Bolts of Silk. Emily won the 2010 Cadaverine/Unity Day Competition with her poem ‘Still Life’, and was selected as Honno’s ‘Poet of the Month’ in September 2012. She was Highly Commended in the 2014 Terry Hetherington Award.
Emily recently became the Poetry Submissions Editor of New Welsh Review. You can read more about this appointment here.
Emily lives in Bridgend with her husband, Greg, and their fat black-and-white cat, Ozymandias.
Emily Blewitt 
Hello Emily,
I have been meaning to send this message for a long while but am only getting around to it now.
During the autumn of last year I attended a WJEC course with a focus on teaching ALevel Poetry. During the lunch break, we were read two poems. One of which was your ‘How Far Along Are You?’.
For the whole of the afternoon session, my mind wandered back to your words and I couldn’t fully concentrate. I was fantasising about a little baby inside me.
At this point, I felt a little lightbulb moment and realised/ secretly hoped that I could be!
My husband and I had not been trying, neither did I really have any symptoms but I felt instinctively it was the case.
After rushing home and buying a kit on the way, the once feared stick revealed that we were indeed pregnant. 3 weeks!
I honestly believe that your poem was the reason I found found out. I continued the first semester with almost no symptoms, so I am convinced without your poem we may not have worked it out!
I am not sitting in bed at 4am- the night feed-with my gorgeous son Aeron in my arms, thinking about the poem again.
As an English teacher and a lover of poetry, I am so happy that your stunning poem started us on this wild journey.
I would really like to have your poem printed and framed to put in my dressing room/ the nursery. Do you happen to sell any prints of your poems or could direct me to someone who does.
Thank you again and best wishes
Laura Lleision-Jones
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Thank you for such a lovely message and congratulations! I’ve just sent you an email x
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Hello Emily,
I’m not sure if you remember me, but I was one of your second-year students when you worked at the University of South Wales for a short while. You taught me about poetry, about writing styles. Now that I have graduated, I look back and realise how important it was for me to develop myself as a writer. Some of my classmates and I created a literary magazine for new and aspiring writers who wish to share their writing with the rest of the world. I was wondering if you could reach out to me because I would like for your writing to be featured on our page.
Kind regards
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Hi Samantha, lovely to hear from you and glad to hear you’re doing well! Can you email me at emilyblewitt1986@outlook.com? All best, Emily
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