For the second day on National Poetry month I’m reading and relishing Sinead Morrissey’s sixth collection. These are gorgeous and serious poems and you can hear her read them on the archive of the Newcastle Poetry festival from 2017. I’m finding these poems fresher and more vibrant than most of Walcott’s yesterday. Perhaps an unfair…
Poetry Month- Derek Walcott’s White Egrets
Up to now, I’ve only browsed Walcott’s poems, so for the start of National Poetry month I decided I should read one of this collections properly. I settled on White Egrets published in 2010. He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1992 and taught one of my tutors on the Poetry School MA.…
Weekend Poetry Reading – Mary Jean Chan
Recently I had the great pleasure of being one of the poets reading for the launch for Lodestone Poets at Waterstones on Tottenham Court Road. It was a packed house as rightly so as the poets included Tamar Yoseloff, Steve Kendall, Mina Aiddo, Glyn Maxwell, Jacqueline Saphra and Mary Jean Chan. It was the day…
Poetry Reading to celebrate International Women’s Day – Sunday 25th March
I will be supporting the women’s refuges in Bedford by taking part in a poetry reading on Sunday 25th March 2 pm – 3.30pm THE PLACE THEATRE, BRADGATE ROAD, BEDFORD, MK40 3DE For more information and tickets click on www.theplacebedford.org.uk
Friday poetry from Jacqueline Saphra and Happy Weekend
I’ve decided it’s time to get back to regular posts about weekend poetry reading. I’ve been doing the reading but not finding the time to mention it. This weekend I’m re-reading the truly wonderful sequence of sonnets ‘A Bargain with the Light’, which was one of my favourite books of 2017 and also chosen by…
Friday poetry from Helen Ivory and Martin Figura and Happy Weekend
This weekend I’m going to be reading Martin Figura’s latest, a pamphlet with illustrations by Caroline Wright and Helen Ivory’s Waiting for Bluebeard. I really enjoyed hearing them both read at Toddington Poetry Society on Tuesday. It was worth it even though my car ended up locked into the car park over the road. These…
Friday Poetry from Ocean Vuong and Happy Weekend
September always feels like the start of new things and this year I’m going back to studying poetry with the Poetry School and the University of Newcastle. The MA classes start on 26th September and I am so looking forward to it. I am also going to make posting about my reading a more regular…
It’s all Greek – reading Greek poetry
Having recently discovered the work of Yannis Ritsos, through his Diaries of Exile I’ve been reading a couple of anthologies of work by twentieth century poets from Greece. This is thanks to the Poetry Library on the South Bank in London. I began with Six Modern Greek Poets, edited and translated by John Stathatos and…
Poets let loose in the Natural History Museum
Thanks to the Poetry School and John McCullough I spent a Saturday at the end of May ransacking the Natural History Museum for poems. My day began early and I was even offered Prosecco on the train into London after I’d unwittingly joined a hen party as they had a spare seat in their midst. They…
Out and About and Weekend Reading
This blog post was going to begin with welcoming the warmer more summery weather and the chance to get out and about but we’ve had heavy rain for the last couple of days and the temperature has dropped. Nonetheless I have been on various writing and poetry excursions recently with more planned for June and…