Poet Ralph Dartford's collection, Recovery Songs, was published by Valley Press in October 2019. Recovery Songs is a cycle of narrative poems that focuses on the rise and fall of the human condition. Described as 'a beautiful and heart-breaking collection', the poems take the reader on a journey through Ralph's own addiction and recovery; sometimes funny, often painful but always poignant and honest.

I edited the book for Ralph which meant working with him not just to correct typos and check facts, but to ensure that the poems expressed what he wanted them to say as clearly as possible. Before this I was Ralph's editor for his first collection, Cigarettes, Beer and Love, a beautiful hand-made limited edition art work published by Ossett Observer Press in 2013. I also worked with the community arts company Ossett Observer to edit a compilation of work by the spoken word collective A Firm of Poets. I recently finished the edit of the follow-up to Recovery Songs, entitled Hidden Music, which will be published by Valley Press in 2021 and is supported with a grant from Arts Council England.