Carol Ann Duffy on five years as poet laureate: 'It has been a joy'

When Carol Ann Duffy was appointed poet laureate in 2009, the first woman to hold the post in its nearly 350-year history, she set herself several goals that included setting up new prizes, giving support to new festivals and helping to generate commissions for poets. But she had only one goal for herself as a practising poet. "I wanted to continue to write as I always had, and I have tried very hard not to write a poem I previously wouldn't have written. There always had been a public element to my work, particularly during the Thatcher years, and I think all poets, to a greater or lesser degree, need to have a finger on the national pulse. Poetry provides an important alternative voice to journalists or pundits or academics as a way of dealing with things that matter to us all. But, for me, it was about finding the moment when my interests and my voice ran parallel to something that could be seen as public."

One example of those moments came last week when, as a writer born in Scotland and then brought up in England, Duffy's poem written in the wake of the Scottish independence referendum, "September 2014", was published on the front page of this newspaper. Other examples are found in her latest collection, Ritual Lighting, which is published to mark the halfway point of her laureateship and contains 16 poems written over the last few years on subjects as diverse as the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the Icelandic volcanic ash-cloud of 2010 and the Hillsborough disaster:

The Cathedral bell, tolled, could never

tell

nor the Liver Birds, mute in their stone

spell;

or the Mersey, though seagulls wailed,

cursed, overhead,

in no language for the slandered dead …

Ritual Lighting contains work that has been commissioned as well as poems in which Duffy has spontaneously responded to events. "A poem like 'Liverpool', which was published at the time of the Hillsborough report, was something I would have written anyway," says Duffy, a graduate of Liverpool University and fervent Reds supporter. "It's the same for 'Birmingham'", written in August 2011, after the riots in Winson Green. Perhaps the most personal poem in the collection is "Pathway", written on the death of Duffy's father in 2011. He had, as a note to the poem explains, "been placed on the subsequently discredited Liverpool Care Pathway". "It is a controversial area, but again this was a moment where something very private and personal happened that also had one foot in a public debate and that is the sort of thing that I have always written about."

So what attracts her to a commission? "It's the same in that the subject has to matter to me. The poem about Shakespeare was commissioned by the RSC and, of course, Shakespeare is very important – he almost is the language. I also feel very close to Stratford because I've been going there since I was a teenager. I love music and so when the Royal Philharmonic Society commissioned me to commemorate its bicentenary that was something else that appealed. It has to come from a genuine impulse or a real connection. There is no point in faking up a poem."

The poems in Ritual Lighting are accompanied by artwork by Stephen Raw, some of which is on display at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, alongside manuscripts, letters and other historical documents from the Royal Library in an exhibition called Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy. Duffy did write a poem to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee, but says there has been no official pressure for her to write on royal subjects, explaining that since Wordsworth's time "there hasn't been any expectation that poets would write on command". She says her most important connection with Buckingham Palace is through the Queen's gold medal for poetry, which is awarded every year. "The Queen takes a big interest and we have a lovely day at Windsor Castle." When Duffy was asked by Westminster Abbey to mark the jubilee, she accepted and wrote "The Crown" because of the Abbey's connection with English literature and the literary associations of the crown. "There is a lot of goodwill towards the Queen in the country and that was also an important thing to honour in a poem."

Aside from writing, she declares herself pleased with the work she has done as a "representative poet" with an opportunity to turn the spotlight on poetry. On the day her laureateship was announced she coordinated a mini-anthology of new work for Guardian Review that "highlighted the wonderful work being done by women poets". Other curations for Review have included new poems from many poets about sport, war, weddings and ageing. Duffy has also helped set up new festivals, such as the Dorothy Wordsworth festival for women poets in Grasmere and the Much Wenlock festival in Shropshire, as well as using the laureate's stipend to set up the Ted Hughes award for innovation in poetry whose winners since 2009 have included a site-specific retelling of Aeschylus, a piece of sound work and a rap performance.

"Traditionally, there hadn't been any money attached to the laureateship, so I didn't feel very comfortable about keeping the money I was offered. I thought the answer was to give the money back to poetry, and the Ted Hughes award has widened the net as to who and what might be considered for a poetry prize. I'm very proud of the ways it has put new poetry out there, and, interestingly, the first four awards have all been won by women."

Looking at the current state of poetry in the UK, she welcomes the growth of performance poetry, "as led by the wonderful Kate Tempest, who won last year's Ted Hughes prize", but says there is a shortage of publishers. "The Arts Council cuts of a few years ago had a huge impact, with several publishers closing and others reducing their lists. There are so many great new poets, but we need ways to celebrate them. And more female poetry editors would also be a good thing. That is still very imbalanced."

As her public profile has increased, Duffy says she has tried to resist "doubling up as some sort of talking head as well as a poet". The campaigns she has been involved in are things she "would have always done as a writer, rather than because I am the laureate. There were hundreds of writers who supported the books for prisoners campaign; I was one of them. I don't want to be popping up on Question Time or Celebrity Mastermind or all the other nonsense you get asked to do. The weirdest request was for one of those reality TV things when you go on holiday with a bunch of Z-list celebrities to see who could last the longest. It wasn't even the one in the jungle. Anything like that is always a 'no'."

Duffy's previous collection, The Bees (2011) included laureate poems – such as "Democracy" to mark the 2010 general election and "Achilles", about David Beckham's ankle injury – but also non-public work. Her predecessor as laureate, Andrew Motion, said that the pressures of the job made it increasingly difficult for him to write, and by the end of his tenure he was running out of steam. "I can't speak for anyone else," says Duffy. "But having five years of being able to highlight poets and poetry has been incredibly rewarding and I'm looking forward to the next five. As a vocational poet who has written poetry since childhood, and also being the first woman poet, I have found the experience energising. So far it has been nothing but a joy."

• Ritual Lighting: Laureate Poems by Carol Ann Duffy, with artwork by Stephen Raw, is published by Picador at £16.99. Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy is at the Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, until 2 November, .