Hylda has been writing poetry for years. Her first full collection, Sayling the Babel, came out in 2006 from Hearing Eye. She has poems in various collections and magazines, including the Hearing Eye collection, In the Company of Poets and the Morning Star’s Well Versed. She has won a few prizes. Hylda runs the popular poetry and acoustic music night, Fourth Friday, at the Poetry Café in London’s Covent Garden.
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Reaching Peckham a story in forty poems, (Hearing Eye 2009) (+ CD)
Reaching Peckham concerns the life, history and landscape of a South London suburb. It is set in the mid-1990s. It is also about the process of writing fiction. The poems of the book are the story of reclusive poet Oliver, his friend Lorna – author of the narrative – and her pupil, illiterate teenager and gang-leader Mehmet. 
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eaching Peckham was set to music, performed and recorded at the Dulwich Festival and on the London Fringe in 1996 by the Boudicca Band. A CD of the original recording is available free when ording a copy of the book.
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ayling the Babel, poems & songs (Hearing Eye 2006)
“…it’s a songbook, a polyphony, a travelling stop for minstrelsy – you can’t just read Hylda, you have to join in. And in the end you can’t help but cheer.” – Mimi Khalvati
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Waterwords (ed.) Hylda Sims & Melanie Mauthner, (BLUpress 2008)
A collection of poems written by children and adults by the pool to celebrate the Brockwell Lido’s 70th birthday.
A vigorous and determined campaign by Brockwell Lido Users (BLU) saved Brockwell Park Lido from demolition, halting a shameful process that has seen 50 of the capital’s 60 open air pools close over the post-war years. To celebrate its 70th birthday BLU ran poetry workshops by the pool for swimmers to write about water. Over 100 of these poems, mostly written and illustrated by children, are now published in a stunning collection, Waterwords.
Hylda Sims 