An evening of poetry at Kenilworth Arts Festival

A week on Friday (September 16th), this rather splendid event is taking place as part of the Kenilworth Arts Festival. David Morley will be joined by Sarah Howe, Luke Kennard, Jo Bell, Claire Trevien and Jonathan Edwards at the Talisman Theatre for an evening of poetry. Follow the link for details of how to book tickets.

Payment for writers

Very interesting blog piece from Charles Boyle here, on the current debate about literary festivals paying (and not paying) writers. It is, of course, a very complicated subject. I'd guess many writers find it difficult to say no to unpaid readings and appearances even if they do feel strongly that they should be paid, but equally I'm not sure if any of the festivals are making a great deal of money out of the whole thing. One to discuss at length.

There's another interesting take on the issue here.

Cheltenham Poetry Festival

Nice piece here about this year's Cheltenham Poetry Festival, including Nine Arches'  Jo Bell, the Poetry Society's Canals Laureate. Full details on the festival, which runs April 20-May 3, can be found here.

Norfolk Festival of Nature

This looks very interesting - excellent line-up so far, including Mark Cocker, and all at a location that, for any British birdwatcher, is close to heaven. If you need an excuse to be in North Norfolk in February (and you really shouldn't), here it is.

Camden Migration

Camden Migration, taking place from September 25th to October 5th, is an exploration into the migration of birds and people through the arts, celebrating cultural expansion but also considering its environmental impact, particularly on bird extinction.

On the 10th anniversary of the Morecambe Bay disaster, and the 100th anniversary of the loss of the last Passenger Pigeon, it will use art to explore the perils of migration to both humans and birds.

The Forge building, in which the Festival takes place, uses sustainable materials, powered in part by solar panels, with natural ventilation systems and featuring a 6.5m high living wall. 

The Ghost of Gone Birds Exhibition, a pop-up art studio, will breathe life back into the birds we've lost, creatively resurrecting extinct birds, so we don't lose any more. Eleven artists will be working at break-neck speed over the Festival to create a gallery of gone birds.

Conservationist and internationally-acclaimed poet Ruth Padel will give a talk about her book The Mara Crossing, a meditation on migration, of birds, animals and human beings, throughout history and in today's world of asylum-seekers and detention centres.

David Lindo, The Urban Birder, will give a talk about urban bird migration, and the effect which environmental changes, such as climate change, have on it.

The film drama 'Ghosts' directed by Nick Broomfield, about the Morecambe Bay disaster which saw 21 people lose their lives will be screened, following a short talk by Dr Diana Yeh to commemorate the lives lost during epic journeys of migration and to examine ways forward for the future.

All events can be found at The Forge website.

Tears In The Fence Festival

The independent literary magazine, Tears In The Fence, is holding a festival to celebrate its 30th birthday, on 24-26 October.

It all takes place at the White Horse, Stourpaine, and among the speakers already confirmed are Peter Hughes, Carrie Etter, Dorothy Lehane, Chris McCabe and Steve Spence. You can find out more here.

Winchester Poetry Festival

Winchester Poetry Festival takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with writers including Jackie Kay, Michael Longley, David Constantine, Patience Agbabi, Ros Barber, Julia Copus and Brian Patten among those taking part.

You can find full details, including the programme and how to book, here.

Nine Arches Poetry Rodeo

I'm reading at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival on Saturday, as part of the Nine Arches Poetry Rodeo. It takes place from 2pm at Copa (admission is £5/£4), and involves two Gloucestershire-based Nine Arches poets, Daniel Sluman and Angela France, taking turns in an exchange of poems with myself and fellow Leicestershire poet Maria Taylor.

You can also hear Maria a little earlier at this, and I highly recommend that you do - her own book Melanchrini is superb, and her husband Jonathan will be reading from his new collection Musicolepsy.

There's lots, lots more too - the full programme for Saturday (and the rest of the festival) is here.

Competition time

It's getting very close to deadline time on a couple of excellent poetry competitions. The Essex Poetry Festival 12th Open Competition has a first prize of £1,000, and is judged by Pascale Petit - you've only got a few days left, as the deadline is July 30th.


Meanwhile, the Buzzwords Open Poetry Competition (all money raised goes to the excellent Buzzwords reading/open mic series in Cheltenham) has a prize of £600, and is judged by Ann Drysdale. The deadline has just been extended until August 14th, so there's still time to polish up that submission.

Reading at Moseley

I'm going to be reading along with fellow Nine Arches poets Angela France and Daniel Sluman at the Moseley Exchange, Birmingham, at 7pm on July 14th. The event, presented by Cannon Poets, is part of the Moseley Festival, and admission is £2.

Words in the Weald

Just a quick reminder that I'll be reading at Poetry in the Pub, as part of the Chiddingly Festival in East Sussex tomorrow night.

It all takes place at the Six Bells, Chiddingly, with doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Tickets are £7. The other readers are David Swann,whose collection The Privilege of Rain (Waterloo Press, 2010) was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry; and Maureen Jivani, whose book Insensible Heart (Mulfran Press, 2009) was shortlisted for the London New Poetry Award, plus host Clare Best, whose collection Excisions is just out from Waterloo Press. I saw it on Saturday at the Free Verse book fair, and like everything else I've seen from Waterloo so far, it's a thing of beauty. I look forward to reading it.

You can book online here, or call 01825 872 401 (between 7pm and 9pm, or book by post, enclosing a cheque to 'Chiddingly Festival Committee' mailed with SAE to Chiddingly Festival Box Office, Chauntlers, Chiddingly, Lewes, E Sussex BN8 6HD.

Further details on the evening, and the festival generally, are available here.

Indian summer

The end of summer (I, of course, consider that this coincides exactly with the end of the cricket season) is supposed to be a time of quiet melancholy. Leaves turning brown, evenings drawing in, a chill in the air. You know the routine.

So why did the weekend just gone feel like the diametric opposite (we'll ignore an England batting display of such breathtaking incompetence I had to double-check that our previously all-conquering heroes hadn't been replaced by a troupe of circus clowns. Or Australians)?

The first reason, on Friday night, was the launch of Salt's The Best British Poetry 2011 at the Betsey Trotwood, in London. Quite apart from anything else, it all ran like clockwork (due mainly to compere Roddy Lumsden), despite there being 30-odd readers to cram in. On top of that, it's a great book (I know, I know, I would say that, but you'll just have to believe me), and it's always good to get another perspective on a poem by hearing it read aloud. 

Favourites included Mike Bannister reading Satin Moth, Mark Burnhope (Twelve Steps Towards Better Despair), Oli Hazzard (Sonnet), Katherine Kilalea (Hennecker's Ditch), Chris MacCabe (Kingfisher), Kate Potts (Three Wishes), Jon Stone (Mustard), Chrissy Williams (Sheep) and Michael Zand (on a persian cairn), but there was much else to admire.

It was good to catch up with Mark Burnhope for a chat, too, having previously only 'met' him online, and nice to meet Giles Goodland again. Thinking about it, Giles didn't read his poem from the book, Waves. A shame, because it's one of my favourite two or three pieces in there. 

I can only admire the sheer energy and enthusiasm of Salt supremo Chris Hamilton-Emery, who was also present despite having just registered as a student at UEA. I bought a copy of another anthology, The Salt Book Of Younger Poets, and very good it is too. I'll be returning to it on here soon, with a detailed overview.

The second reason for feeling suddenly buoyant came the following morning, just around the corner at Exmouth Market, at the CB Editions Free Verse poetry book fair. I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but the sheer volume of people who came through the doors, and more importantly who bought books, was genuinely uplifting. 

Presses such as Arc, Shearsman, Enitharmon, Penned In The Margins, HappenStance, Donut, Carcanet, Reality Street and of course Nine Arches were all present (I think Jane Commane did pretty good business throughout), and as well as offering the opportunity to put faces to names, it was also a great chance to browse books that, however easy they might be to find on the internet, you'd never get a chance to try before you buy otherwise, unless you happened to go to a reading by the poet in question. 

I was reading along with fellow Nine Arches poet Ruth Larbey, who performed her work both very well, and entirely from memory, and managed to catch readings by Tom Jenks, and by HappenStance poets D A Prince, Clare Best, Jon Stone, Kirsten Irving, Peter Daniels and Lorna Dowell. Unfortunately I got next to no chance to talk to Helena Nelson, but that was a mark of how busy she was kept throughout the day, talking to customers and poets, so that can't be a bad thing.

And again, half the pleasure of such an event is meeting new people, seeing Facebook friends made real, and renewing old acquaintances. Step forward Simon Barraclough (I'd just bought his excellent limited edition Penned In The Margins pamphlet Bonjour Tetris, funnily enough), Katy Evans-Bush, Tim Love and Tom Chivers, among others. Other books I bought were Steve Spence's Limits Of Control, and Ross Sutherland's Twelve Nudes, both from Penned In the Margins, and both of which I've had my eye on for a while, plus Peter Riley's The Derbyshire Poems, and David Sergeant's Talk Like Galileo, both from Shearsman.

Perhaps it helped that it was a beautiful, balmy afternoon - my moods seem to be absurdly dependent on the weather - but as I made my way back to St Pancras, I felt more optimistic about the British poetry scene than I have for ages, this summer just gone having been a thoroughly difficult one. With poets, publishers and, most importantly, readers brought face to face, you were reminded of what's actually important (getting good poetry out there to be read), and of how much time and energy gets wasted drawing up binary or even balkanised models of the poetry world. Here's hoping CB Editions will take their fair around the UK.

NB. Coming soon on Polyolbion, I'll have interviews and poems from Mark Burnhope, Simon Barraclough and Isobel Dixon.

Chiddingly Festival

At the end of this month, I'm going to be reading at Poetry in the Pub, as part of the Chiddingly Festival, in East Sussex.

It takes place at the Six Bells, Chiddingly, on Wednesday, September 28th, with doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Tickets are £7.

The other guest poets are David Swann,whose collection The Privilege of Rain (Waterloo Press, 2010) was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry; and Maureen Jivani, whose book Insensible Heart (Mulfran Press, 2009) was shortlisted for the London New Poetry Award. It's all hosted by Clare Best, whose collection Excisions is forthcoming from Waterloo Press this month, and whose HappenStance chapbook Treasure Ground (2009) I can heartily recommend (Clare will also be reading).

You can book online here, or call 01825 872 401 (between 7pm and 9pm, or book by post, enclosing a cheque to 'Chiddingly Festival Committee' mailed with SAE to Chiddingly Festival Box Office, Chauntlers, Chiddingly, Lewes, E Sussex BN8 6HD.

Further details on the evening, and the festival generally, are available here.

StAnza 2011

StAnza 2011, the 14th annual poetry festival at St Andrews, takes place from March 16th-20th, and the final, full programme is out now. Tickets are available from today.

I'm delighted to be a small part of this year's event. I'm reading on Thursday the 17th, with Dawn Wood, as part of a series of readings called Border Crossings. It's  from 11.30am-12.30pm, in the Supper Room at the Town Hall. Incidentally, my fellow Nine Arches poet Mark Goodwin is doing a similar reading the following afternoon, so it'll be nice to be part of a Leicestershire contingent!

I'll certainly be there for the first three days, and hopefully the whole festival if I can manage it, so there'll be plenty of time to see some of the many fine poets in the line-up. They include Selima Hill, John Burnside, Paul Farley, Ciaran Carson, Penelope Shuttle, Don Paterson, Claire Crowther and Carrie Etter, to name but a few. It'll be a nice bonus that the Fife coast in mid-March should be pretty good for birding, too.

Beeston International Poetry Festival

Beeston, a small town now swallowed up by the urban sprawl of Nottingham, might not seem like the obvious place for a poetry festival, but that's just what's happening there over the next couple of weeks.

Full details are here, with many of the events taking place at the excellent Flying Goose Cafe. At the very least, I'll make it along to the Roy Fisher reading on the 28th, but there are several other events there that look appealing.

Polyverse - roll on 2010!

Just gathering my thoughts after spending most of the weekend at the first Polyverse Poetry Festival, at Loughborough University, but suffice it to say that a great time was had by all, with the highlight being the showcase reading by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy on Saturday night.

That things went so well was a tribute to the efforts of organiser Radcliff Gregory, whose brainchild it was, Kerry Featherstone, who seemed to be on hand anywhere and everywhere at all hours, and a number of other volunteers. Of course (and this is true of pretty much every poetry festival I’ve ever been to), there were times when it would have been nice to see more visitors, and especially more non-poet visitors, but from what I’ve seen elsewhere, events like this need a year or two to build momentum, so I expect it to go from strength to strength.

I pretty much kicked things off, on Friday evening, reading with Nottingham poet Mike Wilson in the main theatre. There was a reasonable turn-out and I thought we complemented each other pretty well with our differing styles.

I stayed to hear Bob Mee, formerly editor of Iota and a fine poet in his own right. I thought he read particularly well, and it was nice to discover when chatting to him that he’s a Leicester City fan (there had to be another). Reading with him was Nick Carbo, from the Philippines, who was making his UK debut and didn’t disappoint, with some wryly funny poems that hinted at US influences but also bore a distinctly Filipino stamp.

Saturday afternoon was a veritable feast of readings. Angela France and Ben Stainton got things off to a really strong start, and Gillian Spraggs and Chris Kinsey were excellent too. Gillian’s a poet who shares my love of all things Anglo-Saxon, while Chris’s work features a lot of very finely-observed nature, so they were always onto a winner with me.

Mark Goodwin’s always a great reader, too, and I really enjoyed his set – he’s at his best when writing about that crossover point between urban and rural. Later, I enjoyed excellent performances by Jon Stone and Sam Smith. And they were performances, too – I can be very wary of poets overdoing it when reading their work, but Jon injected plenty of energy into his witty and always entertaining poems, while Sam introduced a random element into his reading, asking audience members to pick which poems he read.

CAD’s reading was preceded by four young Leicestershire writers – Myfanwyn Ryan, Jenn Clarke, Ella Pocock and Stevie Watson, and they were hugely impressive. Ryan in particular is a name I’d expect to hear a lot more from in the future.

So to the Poet Laureate. Never having seen her read before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she really did bring the house down. I think what was most outstanding was the pacing of everything – not just the structure of the set, but the voicing of the individual poems. It set me thinking about whether poetry on the page can ever be a sort of musical notation for poetry read aloud, or whether you just have to accept that they are two very different things, but I’ll write about that at more length soon. And it sent me home wanting to re-read any number of her poems that I’ve probably skipped past previously.

Sunday was a bit less hectic, but I heard Jane Commane (particularly liked her OS map poem), Andy Fletcher, David Bircumshaw (another genuine performance, and really compelling), Amanda Lambourne Jones, Matt Nunn (reliably entertaining and thought-provoking), and Tony Williams, who read from his forthcoming Salt collection, The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street. If the title poem in particular is anything to go by, it’ll be a cracker.

Steve Rooney and the man himself, Radcliff Gregory, set the seal on things before I had to dash off, with an excellent reading back in the main theatre. Both, I think, touched on the fact that poets of all stripes had read with and listened to each other, which after all is pretty much the point of most festivals, so it was a fitting way to end.

As always, it was good to meet people like Tony Williams, Angela France, Bob Mee and Jon Stone, who previously have only been names on an online forum, or on the end of an email, to see readers who were completely new to me, and to catch up with the likes of Jane Commane, Matt Nunn, Mark Goodwin and Chris Kinsey.

In between times, I bought Sandra Tappenden’s Bags Of Mostly Water, having liked her more recent Salt collection, Rupert Loydell’s recent chapbook Lost In The Slipstream (I’ve recently refound and reread his excellent The Museum Of Light), Sam Smith’s Rooms and Dialogues, and also swapped books with Mark Goodwin (his collection Else is from Shearsman) and Mike Wilson (the spendidly titled Desperanto, from Smokestack).

Oh, and my set list, for those interested, was:

The Meeting Place
The American version
Things Left In Hotel Rooms
The Mad Mile
Troy Town
Scorpio Over La Selva
Familiar
The Memory Of Water
Worst Case Scenario
Lullaby

Polyverse Poetry Festival: CAD to appear!

I've mentioned it before, but now Polyverse Poetry Festival has secured the new Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, for a reading, question-and-answer session, and book signing session on the evening of Saturday, July 25th.

The festival (which runs July 24th-26th) takes place at Loughborough University, and will also feature critically-acclaimed drama, readings by a large number of published poets, free workshops, and book signings, plus the opportunity to talk to publishers and editors.

I'll be reading (date and time to be confirmed), and I'm also running a workshop on Poetry and Place between 2pm and 4pm on the Sunday (26th).

Tickets are now on sale - £20 covers the whole festival, including all events and a workshop. Alternatively, you can buy a £10 ticket for Carol Ann Duffy and the Dreams of May show - both are included in the price.

All ticket enquiries should go to Helen Relf, on 01509 222 967, between 9am-5pm, or by e-mail to: h.l.relf@lboro.ac.uk

Polyverse Poetry Festival

Polyverse Poetry Festival is taking place in Loughborough at the end of July, and will feature a host of writers from across the Midlands and further afield. I'll be reading and running a workshop, and I also hope to catch up with quite a few of the other events.

Loughborough's a compact but lively university town with good bus and train links to Leicester and Nottingham, so if you're anywhere in the area, come along and pick and choose a few events to attend.

Oh, and in the grand tradition of special offers, if you see me at the festival, I'll be selling Troy Town at £7 (that's £2 off). I might have a few copies of Making The Most Of The Light left too.

Friday, July 24th, 2009, through to Sunday July 26th, 2009.

English & Drama Department of Loughborough University,
Leicestershire,
LE11 3TT
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ea/

TICKETS: Will be available imminently. £20 covers whole festival, including all events and a workshop. Other ticket types will be announced shortly.
All ticket enquiries to Ruth Salt, telephone 01509 222 761 (overseas: +44 1509 222 761) between 9am-5pm BST, or e-mail R.Salt@lboro.ac.uk

SPECIAL EVENTS:

DREAMS OF MAY - first public performance of this critically acclaimed one-woman play outside London. It takes place on a train where the woman’s memory is triggered by objects causing her to look over her life and confront her demons. This internal conversation is revealed to the audience through poetry and music. Written by SUE GUINEY http://www.sueguiney.com/
STORIES DRUMMED TO POLAR SKIES by Siobhan Logan.
Exclusive and specially rewritten version of the dazzling fusion of poetry and science spectacular. The original version was performed at the National Science Museum and the Richard Attenborough Centre.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/siobhan.logan1/

ROSIE LUGOSI, renowned vampire poetess, brings her hair-raising poetic cabaret. Be very scared - you might laugh your way to a cracked ribcage.
http://www.rosielugosi.com/
If you want to attend a FREE workshop with Rosie Lugosi, ask for the Rosie Garland one. Details of how to book appear below.

POETS CONFIRMED TO READ/PERFORM: Gail Ashton, Carole Baldock, Tina Bass, David Bircumshaw, Julie Boden, Wayne Burrows, Nick Carbo, Sally Clark, Jane Commane, Rosemary Dun, John Elson, Andy Fletcher, Angela France, Mark Goodwin, Radcliff Gregory, Oz Hardwick, Brendan Hawthorne, Sonia Hendy-Isaac, Martin Holroyd, Christopher James, Pat Jourdan, Chris Kinsey, Emma Lee, Paul Lee, Sheree Mack, Bob Mee, Matt Merritt, Ian Morgan, Matt Nunn, Kerry Oramnge, Tony Petch, Leskley Quayle, Susan Richardson, Steve Rooney, Sam Smith, Gillian Spraggs, Ben Stainton, Geoff Stevens, Jon Stone, Carol Thistlethwaite, Pam Thompson, Lydia Towsey, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and Mike Wilson.

ALL WORKSHOPS ARE COMPLETELY FREE!

However, you will need to buy a ticket for the festival to be eligible. You will need book your workshop space in advance if you want to be guaranteed a place.

At present, you can only attend one free workshop, although this may change, depending on demand. To book a workshop, contact Ruth Salt (details below) by e-mail or telephone, and let her know your three most preferred choices. You will then be allocated to your most preferred workshop(s) with spaces left.

All workshop enquiries to Ruth Salt, telephone 01509 222 761 (overseas: +44 1509 222 761) between 9am-5pm BST, or e-mail R.Salt@lboro.ac.uk.

CONFIRMED TO GIVE WORKSHOPS:

Carole Baldock, Sally Clark, Angela France, Nick Carbo, Rosemary Dun, Rosie Garland (aka Rosie Lugosi!), Sonia Hendy-Isaac, Matt Merritt, Mike Wilson.

Full details: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9528966169#/group.php?gid=9528966169

Derwent Poetry Festival

Last year I went up to Matlock for the first Derwent Poetry Festival, run by Templar Poetry, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This year’s festival takes place over the weekend of October 17th-19th, at Masson Mills, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. It will feature the launch of 10 new poetry titles from Templar Poetry, including the presentation of the 2008 Templar Poetry Pamphlets Prizes.

It is accompanied by readings from Paul Farley, Tim Liardet, Jane Weir, Pat Winslow, Rob Hindle, Dawn Wood, Siobhan Campbell, Mike Barlow, Angela Cleland, Pat Borthwick, Katrina Naomi and many others. There is a festival bookshop, stands from magazines and an exhibition of paintings by Artist in Residence Karen Isherwood.

I might struggle to make it this time, as I’m scheduled to be out of the country working that weekend, but it’s all a bit up in the air at the moment so if I am at home, I’ll get along. I particularly liked Rob Hindle’s reading last year, but there was plenty of other good stuff and Matlock Bath is a pretty nice place to be on a fine autumn day.

The full festival programme is listed at: www.templarpoetry.co.uk or you can call the box office on 01629 582 500.

The Fifth DH Lawrence Festival

The DH Lawrence Festival – held in and around Eastwood – started on August 15th and runs until September 11th. Brochures can be ordered by calling 01773 717353.

The Festival includes introductory material on Lawrence, events for specialists, a photography exhibition on mining, family events and walks round Lawrence's old stomping ground, "the country of my heart".

Less Lawrentian events include a drawing workshop with the man who did the Harry Potter drawings and a family history session. On September 9th there is a talk on dialect in Lawrence's work and a guided walk round Greasley on September 7th.