Who are Thriving Women?
Thriving Women are a poetry collective with lived experience of poverty and social exclusion who use their work to speak truth to power.
The poetry collective began life as an 8-week course in partnership with anti-poverty charity Thrive Teesside and Tees Women Poets, and has since continued this partnership to become an established social commentary group. Meeting monthly, under the care of Thrive Teesside, the Thriving Women respond to current events, locally, nationally and internationally, which directly affect their lives.
Each session responds to current affairs around their lived experience and explores themes of poverty and social exclusion while introducing literary techniques and close reading of other poets work. The sessions are designed to allow each Thriving Woman to respond authentically to the theme and to gain confidence in writing and performing poetry. Poetry techniques and poetry forms are built on giving them the tools for their creative self-expression.
Through opportunities presented by Thrive Teesside, the Thriving Women have collaborated with other anti-poverty organisations across the UK including Poverty2Solutions, GRIPP (Growing Rights Instead of Poverty Partnership) and Amnesty UK.
Thriving women facilitator
Julie Easley
Julie Easley is the Thriving Women workshop facilitator. She is a working-class poet and performer and an Artist Guardian with Tees Women Poets. Julie is widely published and has performed nationally and internationally, and as an experienced workshop facilitator she has worked with various groups across Teesside.
In her own words Julie says: ‘The partnership with Thrive Teesside and Tees Women Poets has become something I cherish, and the Thriving Women continue to challenge and amaze me. Through them, I have become a better workshop facilitator and we have explored everything from poverty to power to sestina’s to litany’s to dancing in the street like Kingsley from Benefits. We have made films, published books, laughed and cried and everything in between. We have become a support network for each other in increasingly fearful times, Thriving Women is a safe space for all of us, and working with them is my privilege.’
Meet the Thriving Women
Sarah York
she/her
Mandy Winter
she/her
Sandra Falconer
she/her
Sue Crawford
she/her
Diana Agunbiade
she/her
Our Themes
Thriving Women is a social commentary poetry group, they respond to current political, economic, social and cultural events which affect them directly.
Over 4 years they have written poetry around themes of:
Ghosts
Ghosts is a compelling new anthology of poetry by Thriving Women, a collective of women with lived experience of poverty and exclusion. Facilitated by Thrive Teesside and Tees Women Poets, the book explores the realities of poverty, inequality, and systemic injustice, giving voice to stories often overlooked. The poems reflect on daily struggles, unpaid care work, housing challenges, and the emotional toll of living in an unequal society, while also celebrating resilience, solidarity, and hope.
Echoes of the Unheard
Echoes of the Unheard, full of their poems and stories, was published by Thrive Teesside in March 2022, accompanied by their collaborative film poem ‘Poverty is a Weapon.’
“I am a friend of Sandra Falconer and she sent me the poetry book for my birthday. It brought me to tears. It is amazing. I know that my cousin Teresa Cullen would love it too. I asked Sandra to help and as usual, she has. I will make a donation as I think the work you do is brilliant and you deserve support and recognition for making a difference to people.”
Thriving Women Booklet
“It’s been said ‘You can measure a country by how it treats its most vulnerable,’ so in the 30th year of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty it saddens me that the UK has a devastating cost of living crises, the highest NHS waiting list in history, and food and energy poverty so widespread that many have to choose between eating and heating.”
Thriving Women Book
“The poems and articles in this book show how we, as Teesside women are highly skilled, passionate and determined and will not stay silent. We are the voice of our communities and we are here to be listened to, no matter what we face we will rise up, and we rise up by helping others.”
Other poetry projects:
Thriving Women write for the international Day to Eradicate Poverty, International Women’s Day and #DignityForAll
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Ghosts by Thriving Women
Ghosts By Thriving Women Ghosts is a compelling new anthology of poetry by Thriving Women, a collective of women with lived experience of poverty and exclusion. Facilitated by Thrive Teesside and Tees Women Poets, the book explores the realities of poverty, inequality, and systemic injustice, giving voice to stories often overlooked. The poems reflect on daily…
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From Teesside to Geneva- Two “Thriving Women” of Teesside take their voices to the UN!
Two women from Thrive Teesside, a grassroots organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and inequality, are amplifying their communities’ voices on a global stage. Julie Easley, poet and facilitator of the Thriving Women group, and Tracey Herrington, Thrive Teesside Manager, have travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to present powerful testimony and incredibly important GRIPP (Growing Rights Instead…
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Thriving Women Manifestos for UK Parliament Week.
Thriving Women Manifestos
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A Poetic Experience- Expert Citizens
“My partner Tracy has been part of Thriving Women, a poetry group based in Teesside and led by Julie Easley. The theme was poverty, I was so glad that my partner got back into poetry because she is so talented and amazing with words.”
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Thriving Women- ‘Writing truth to Power’
At the time of writing, I am 6 weeks into delivering a series of poetry workshops for Thrive Teesside on behalf of the Tees Women Poets. I had no idea when I began this project that it would affect me in the way it has. The workshops are titled ‘writing truth to power,’ and the focus…
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