Bloodstock beckons for former Star journalist-turned-poet Sophie Sparham

But poet Sophie Sparham can barely get the words "no pressure" out of her mind.

The former Express & Star and Shropshire Star entertainments journalist has found a new career in writing of a different kind since she left the company. And after three years of hard work, graft, and gracing smaller stages in pubs and clubs around the country she is about to take on something bigger than she could ever have imagined.

Heavy metal festival Bloodstock.

And to make things more impressive, she is the first ever poet to grace their stage.

"I've known the compères for years and worked Bloodstock when I was in the media," the 25-year-old tells us. "I wrote a poem called Napalm Death about how much I love that band, and they saw it and rung me up and asked me to gig for them.

"I'm really nervous. Basically, they've never had a poet there before - I'm terrified. But I'm also excited. I've always wanted to play Bloodstock. It's my favourite festival and I love going.

"It means a lot to me. My partner Gez will be there to help and support me and he encouraged me to go self-employed with my poetry in the first place. So I'm very lucky to be able to share this with him."

The festival runs from Thursday until August 11, and Sophie will open up the Jagermeister stage next Friday.

Poetry is something which has been in Sophie's life for as long as she can remember. Before she worked for the Star, from 2014 into 2015, Sophie had a spell living in London and got her first taste of performing her art by attending local open mic nights in the Big Smoke.

"I've always written poetry, but I never thought I could have a career in it," she adds. "Then I went to Shambala Festival [in Northamptonshire] and they had a big poetry stage there. I saw people like Dreadlock Alien and Birmingham's Benjamin Zephaniah - who I love - perform and it was a really big thing.

"I'm inspired by Benjamin and mentioned him in one of my poems, Rock Against Racism, which he really liked. I met him a few times and he wrote the forward to my book Please Mind The Gap, which is available from all good digital outlets still."

Working for a newspaper group also allowed Sophie to see every day the injustices of the world and the people who had awful stories to tell. That inspired her writing further.

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"Seeing things in the newspaper makes you realise all the issues that are out there in the world. It made me want to use writing to benefit people and to help people. It was a great insight into what I could write about."

So from features she switched to poems, and has had science fiction novels published too. Immediately, she realised the battle she faced just to get some people to listen.

"A lot of people have preconceptions of poetry," she adds. "They say it's not relevant and ask me why I am still doing it in the modern age.

"Particularly when I go into schools, the kids aren't ready to engage and think I am going to read Shakespeare off a scroll or something.

"But then they are amazed. They enjoy it and say things like 'I didn't know I was into that', or 'I didn't know I could say that'. They change their perception.

"Poetry is for everybody. All societies, all classes. I really try to put that across."

Despite living in Derby, Sophie still returns to her former newspaper patch to perform shows locally. She works with the group Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists that put poetry nights on around the Black Country and are closely linked with the Wolverhampton Literature Festival.

Through that, she has become good friends with Wolverhampton poet Emma Purshouse. And as Sophie speaks to us, she is on the train home from Womad Festival at Wiltshire's Charlton Park House last weekend where she performed on the same stage as Emma.

"It went really well," Sophie says. "I've wanted to play it for a long time and have been applying for three years. They finally let me in!

"It was a different audience than I am used to but they took it well."

And post-Bloodstock, Sophie will combine with friends to take on another internationally-renowned arts institution. But this one is a bit more used to poetry.

"We're doing the Edinburgh Fringe this year which I am really excited about," she beams.

It opens today, and runs until August 26. Sophie will be joining Emma Ireland, Spike Pike and Mike Took in A Poet's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse, which will run from August 15 to 19.

"We're calling ourselves the Four Poets of the Apocalypse and are giving people a guide to surviving the times we live in," she continues. "It's a huge coup for us and I'll try my best.

"I'm really lucky because I met a woman at an Alice In Chains gig recently who lives near where we are performing. So I'm going to be staying there.

"We'll see how the rest of the year goes then. I keep plugging away and every year I get a little closer.

"Poetry is still so relevant today. It gives you a window into other cultures and politics. It's an unedited window, raw, and sometimes we might not understand what we see.

"But it's a way for people to connect. If somebody's having a hard time they might read a poem about somebody else having a hard time and relate to that. Hopefully that can make somebody feel not so alone."

Sophie Sparham can be found on Twitter @SophieSparham and Facebook @sophiesparhamwriter, while her work can be viewed on her YouTube channel. To buy her book, Please Mind The Gap, visit her website sophiesparham.co.uk. Tickets to see Sophie at Bloodstock are still available, and her Edinburgh Fringe shows are free and non-ticketed. On October 15, Sophie will be performing at Wolverhampton's Lighthouse in the Home & Away series put on by Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists. For updates on that show when they become available, follow @poetsprattlerspandemonialists on Facebook.