Carlisle-born poet Julie McNeill, who uses football to bring poetry to the masses, is penning her second book that helps promote inclusivity for the dyslexic.

Julie, who now lives in Scotland, is working on the sequel to her award-winning book, Mission Dyslexia, an interactive resource that celebrates the unique strengths of dyslexia, designed to facilitate family discussions and understanding.

Using her personal experiences, McNeill, who used to deliver copies of The Cumberland News, set out to aid other families with the book since being celebrated in classrooms and with councils. 

"My husband is dyslexic, and living with him was a learning process for me, it's not just something that affects your reading and writing, it's lots of things," she said.

"When I had my children - both of them are also dyslexic - I was looking for a book to work through with my son, first to help me to understand and to help support him. But I couldn't find one so I thought, why not write one?"

News and Star: Award-winning Mission DyslexiaAward-winning Mission Dyslexia (Image: Supplied)

Since then, the Scottish Poetry Library commissioned McNeill to make the medium of poetry more accessible to neurodiverse children, as she continues to facilitate workshops throughout libraries across Scotland. 

But McNeill's contribution to literature doesn't stop at highlighting people's understanding of dyslexia. 

She was also the first Makar (poet) of the Scotland Women's National Team Poets Society, before becoming Poet In Chief of the Hampden Collection which has become synonymous with ‘The World Home of Football Poetry’. 

The poet has also released Something Small, a personal collection of poems touching on football, feminism, motherhood and friendship.

 

"People think football and poetry are a weird combination but for me, nothing sort of evokes that energy, emotion, or disappointment.

"My daughter was six when the women's team was going to the World Cup, I wrote a poem about her and what an amazing thing it was for her watching these inspiring women on their way to France and it went from there," she said. 

McNeill is also a poet in residence at St Mirren FC CF, making her the only female poet in the world attached to a professional football club.

"I love writing about football but I tend to write about everything around football rather than the score, the rituals around it that generate rich stuff for poetry.

"I find it easy to write about because you can tap into so many different facets of football. 

"It's lovely to bring poetry to places where people don't think poetry is for them. It takes poetry out of a dusty book on a shelf," she said. 

To keep up with Julie's work, you can follow her on Twitter @JulieMcNeill1 

The second release of Mission Dyslexia, again illustrated by Rossie Stone, will be out next year.