My fellow poet Miriam Scott, who has died aged 76 after a long illness, was a feminist poet and editor. Under the name Diana Scott, she edited the anthology Bread and Roses: Women’s Poetry of the 19th and 20th Centuries (1982). Compiled to “give pleasure both to readers who have not read much poetry, and to those who feel that poetry is already very much part of their lives”, the book’s scholarly introduction sensitively addressed the nature of inspiration and of women’s writing at different times.
Miriam’s early poetry had appeared in the Arts Council’s New Poetry anthologies and in Gallery magazine, among other publications. She co-authored the influential pamphlet If Women Want to Speak, What Language Do They Use?, with Mary Coghill (1977); and, with Judith Kazantzis, Harriet Rose and me, was a member of Prodigal Daughters, an innovative women’s poetry theatre group of the mid-1970s to early 80s. Prodigal Daughters performed their own poems in dramatic sequences, together with dancers, musicians and singers.
