In this BBC Maestro course, former British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy shares the secrets and philosophy behind writing great poetry and nurturing your unique creativity.

Poetry can fill gaps that normal language can't, helping us express emotions and thoughts that we might otherwise be incapable of tapping into.

Crucially, a great poem doesn't exist until somebody writes it.

Carol Ann Duffy has been a working poet for most of her life, including ten years as the British Poet Laureate from 2009-2019. She was the first woman, first Scot, and first openly gay poet to hold the position.

In this BBC Maestro course, Duffy uses her own journey as a poet to inform and inspire us to begin our own.

Duffy explores how our memories, reading, and natural vocabularies can help us to forge an authentic poetic voice, bringing our background and personality into our creativity.