Janet Hatherley is a teacher and writer who has taught in both secondary and primary schools, most recently in Haringey, London. Her work has been published in numerous journals and online magazines, including The Interpreter’s House, Under the Radar, Stand, Coast to Coast to Coast, Brittle Star, The Poetry Village, ARTEMISpoetry and Spelt, among others. In 2021, she was shortlisted for Nine Pens Pamphlet Series, Three Trees Portfolio Award and won third prize in Second Light Poetry Competition. She was highly commended in Ver Poetry Competition, 2022.
 
In her debut poetry pamphlet, 2022, What Rita Tells Me, Janet Hatherley provides thought-provoking, poignant and often humorous insights into the struggles of a family growing up in the mid-twentieth century.
 
Review comments:
 

Janet Hatherley’s debut pamphlet ‘What Rita Tells Me’ is a sharp-eyed portrait of an English sixties’ childhood taking in London and the North, a narrative full of ironies: poignant, grainy and surprising, poems telling it like it was. These are thoughtful pieces about holding it together in difficult times. They are tributes, in particular, to Hatherley’s parents, to whom the book is dedicated.

Katherine Gallagher, poet

Janet Hatherley’s moving poems explore family life and struggles, with a father who has experienced two world wars and a mother who is resourceful in the face of poverty. Hatherley’s poems are life-affirming and steeped in social history.

Lisa Kelly, poet and editor at Magma