National Trust Mottisfont

‘There is a smooth musical grace to [her] verses, easeful as the flow of water; yet like water her images cut through ground, into landscapes both ‘human’ and ‘wild’.’ Mark Goodwin.

Aly Stoneman’s poems are concerned with the human experience of landscape and place, exploring connections between landmarks, myths and memories.

Aly is the Poetry Editor at LeftLion Magazine and has undertaken many commissions including writing for Guardian award-winning project ‘Dawn Of The Unread’ and as Poet-in-Residence for Lyric Lounge. A winner of the Buxton Poetry Competition (2015) and Nottingham Poetry Society’s Performance Poetry Competition (2011), she has read and performed her work at many festivals and events including Ledbury Poetry Festival, Copenhagen International Poetry Festival, and as part of Renaissance One’s mentoring scheme, The Final Stage, led by Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze MBE.

In 2016, she was awarded a Midlands3Cities AHRC-funded research studentship looking at ‘Contemporary Poetry, Sea-level Rise and Coastal Flooding’.

During my residency for The Observatory at Mottisfont, I’ll be responding to the flow of water through and around the estate including the Font spring, the Abbey Stream and the River Test. I’ll be walking, talking and book-making with staff, volunteers and visitors and gathering ideas and observations for new writing, including a collaborative poem.

http://www.alystoneman.co.uk/