Details of our poetry book Two Bards Are Better Than One, including poems, illustrations and how to order a copy, will appear here later in the year. 

Our poetry book is possibly unique in that it has been written by a mother and son, enhanced by illustrations drawn by me and contains over 60 lighthearted, comical, moving and reflective poems, which although similar in some ways, were written independently.

The poetry covers an array of topics ranging from al fresco dining, angels, giraffes and apes to wedding hats, art, water and the Pearly Gates. Our aims is, “Purely to entertain (with no bad language) and we hope that the book will be an uplifting and memorable read. We wish to appeal to readers who appreciate amusing, thoughtful and relatable poetry – those who may also enjoy the writing style of poets such as Pam Ayres and Wendy Cope, although we are not comparing ourselves with them.” 

Valerie explains how this book came about: “I sent an email to Marc which happened to mention that I thought a poem could probably be written about any topic. He then challenged me to write one about a cactus, which was quickly emailed back to him. Soon after, he suggested to me that I should write a book and a few weeks later asked what I felt about writing a joint one. Three months later, over one hundred poems had been written!”   

Two Bards are Better than One will be available in paperback at Waterstones, independent bookshops and Amazon. 

About the authors: Valerie has written poetry most of her life and Marc is a playwright, musician and artist. Six of their poems were included in the ‘Four Seasons Poetry Anthology’, published by Swaledale Festival, North Yorkshire in May 2026. Marc’s plays have been performed in the UK and abroad and he came third in the Global Finals of the World Monologue Games in October 2024.