Interview - Luke Wright: All Wright on the night as Luke gets all poetic

He has the fresh face that belongs on a boy band member more than a poet.

Wright is a rising star of poetry, having organised and hosted a poetry arena at the uber cool festival Latitude, had three sell-out shows at Edinburgh, set up a publishing house, had his work broadcast on Channel Four and is poet in residence at Radio Four.

"It's not that I'm not ambitious, it's just that when you meet a huge star and you see just how driven they are and how hard they work, you realise what it takes to get to that level," says Wright.

"If my ambition and aims taper and I can make a living, then that's great, but I wouldn't want my life to become all about pursuing that."

As if to demonstrate this, although today Wright is on route from Manchester to Kent, between gigs, he explains that: "Two days a week I look after my baby son, so it's mother and toddler groups half of the week and travelling to gigs the rest of the time. I'm really happy to be doing that."

Wright's love affair with poetry began when he was 16.

"I had heard Blur's Country House and was blown away by how funny and clever the lyrics that told this whole story were, so I started trying to write my own," says Wright.

"Then, when I was 16, I went to my first poetry gig. John Cooper Clarke and Martin Newell were performing, they were amazing. Ross Sullivan was also on the bill, and seeing Ross perform his poetry was something else because he was my age, and he read a poem about boy racers, which I could relate to. I didn't realise that people wrote poetry that was about me and my life."

That night, Wright spoke to Cooper Clarke and was given a piece of advice.

"He told me to find someone that I like and steal from them, to copy their style," says Wright. "So I copied him. It was a good way to start, but, obviously, I developed my own style."

In recent years, the 27-year-old has taken a huge leap forward in his career, to the point where the Observer last year called him "the best young performance poet around".

He is the poet in residence on Saturday Live, the Radio Four programme. One of eight poets in residence on the programme, he appears on the show in rotation with the others, opening the show with a minute-long poem and then closing it with a piece written about the issues discussed on the show.

"It's difficult to make something decent to fit in the space of a minute, but it's a good challenge and it's great to get that kind of exposure," he says.

Last year, Channel Four produced The Seven Ages of Love, a half-hour programme which featured a mix of documentary and Wright performing his work. Wright produced all the poetry for the film, either writing it himself or working with other contributors to help them write for the programme.

Talking about the film, Wright takes the opportunity to discuss the state of poetry today.

"Channel Four put 40,000 into making the film, which wasn't enough for what we wanted to do, but at least it was something," says Wright.

"I think it's disappointing that the BBC doesn't put more money into poetry. It had a poetry season, but that was a lot of programmes with people discussing their favourite poets or people talking about dead poets.

"If Channel Four can put money into developing poets who are working today, then surely the BBC is able to invest a little more."

This outspoken attitude has also led to Wright appearing on Newsnight Review.

Such high-profile appearances make Wright a rarity in the world of poetry, but can also make him a target for the snobbery of the world he lives in.

"It can be a very small world. Mike Newell said it's a load of 'middle-class tosspots going round festivals and reviewing each other's books' and that can feel very true," says Wright.

"I'm not regarded as part of that world and, in truth, I don't have an issue with that scene itself, nor do I have an issue with not being part of it, but it is true that you do see the same names popping up regularly."

Wright says that, surprisingly, much of the snobbery he has encountered has come from poets his own age.

"George Szirtes has been hugely supportive and said some really nice things, and Carol Ann Duffy is positive about poetry in performance. The fact is, some things work better on the page and some work better when they are performed.

"There is a snobbery about performance poetry, but that's where it can really come alive for me, when I am performing to an audience."

And maybe providing inspiration for some, just as Cooper Clarke did

for him.

The Petty Concerns of Luke Wright will be performed at Seven Arts Centre, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, on March 10, and City Screen, York, on March 11.