Monday night at the Cheltenham, Poetry Festival

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but Monday night's online reading as part of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival was a lot of fun.

Los Angeles-based poet Chase Dimock read superbly, and I'm very much enjoying his book, Sentinel Species. His work is disarmingly funny – you're so busy enjoying the wit and humour that the emotional heft catches you off-balance. I'll write more about it once I've read further.

I just wanted to thank Anna Saunders and everyone else at Cheltenham Poetry Festival, and the excellent open mic readers who contributed so much to the evening.

If you want to find out more about what's on at CPF, have a look here.

And if you'd like to read most of the poems I read on Monday, they're available in the above e-pamphlet on sale here, or in my Nine Arches Press collections hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica (available on Kindle) and The Elephant Tests, available here.

Poetry readings

Interesting blog post here from Sue Ibrahim. Of course, it's getting difficult to remember exactly what a poetry reading is like, and I've only seen a couple on Zoom during the past year. But it is one of the things that I'm now missing, and looking forward to returning to when things get back to, well, not normal, but what will pass for the new normal.

It set me thinking about different reading styles, and exactly what I want to hear at a reading, and I'll post about that in the near future. But, in the meantime, I'd be interested to hear any best/worst experiences.

A Sky Full Of Birds at Waterstones, Oxford

Next Tuesday, June 13th, I'll be at Waterstones in Oxford talking about A Sky Full Of Birds and reading from the book. There are full details, including of how to book tickets, here.

I'll also be talking about the Oxford Swift City Project, which aims to help these summer visitors fight back against recent declines. I'm lucky in that Swifts are fairly plentiful where I live (although they've been absent this week, presumably avoiding the bad weather), so it will be a pleasure to share the evening with them.

If you can't make it, but would like to buy a copy of A Sky Full Of Birds (I have both hardback and paperback copies available), contact me through the email link on this site, or just leave a comment below.

A Sky Full Of Birds at Stourbridge Library

Tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 1st), at 6.30pm, I'll be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at Stourbridge Library.

As always I'll have copies of the book available for a reduced price of £10 – if by any chance they sell out on the night you can order a copy from me for the same price, and I'll send it out as soon as I get new stock in.

Admission is £3, which includes a drink, and full details are here.

Reading tonight - Our Woods

Tonight, I'm reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at the Coronation Park Pavilion, Cottingham Road, Corby NN17 1SZ, as part of the Our Woods project. The event starts at 7pm, and admission costs £5.50 (£3.50 concessions). You get tea, coffee and homemade cake, too.

I'll be selling copies of the book on the night, for £10, but it's also available here, if you want to buy direct, or from all good bookshops. Or, if you'd prefer, you can buy a signed copy from me – email me using the link on the right.

Reading at Ouse Muse

Two weeks today, on Wednesday, November 23rd, I'm the featured reader at Ouse Muse, in Bedford. It'll be my first purely poetry reading for quite a long while, so I'm looking forward to it a great deal (not that I haven't enjoyed reading prose).

It all takes place downstairs at the Auction Room Bar, 1 Duke Street, Bedford MK40 3HD, starting at 7.45pm, although you'll need to get there from 7.30pm if you want to sign up for one of the open mic slots.

Admission is £5, or £4 for concessions or open mic readers. I'll have copies of both my Nine Arches Press collections, hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica and The Elephant Tests, available for sale on the night, as well as a few copies of A Sky Full Of Birds.

A Sky Full of Birds at Wigtown Book Festival

I'm going to be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at the Wigtown Book Festival, Dumfries and Galloway, on Thursday September 29th. The event takes place at the Main hall of the County Buildings at 1.30pm, and you can find more details, including how to book, here.

Wigtown Bay is a pretty great birdwatching spot itself, especially at that time of year, so it will be great to combine the reading with some time in the field. Might just be too early for the geese to be back on the Solway, but there should be plenty of waders going through.

A Sky Full Of Birds at Lowdham Book Festival

I'll be reading from my book, A Sky Full Of Birds, at the Lowdham Book Festival this Saturday (June 25th), at 11am. It takes place at the Methodist Chapel on Main Street, and as well as the reading there'll be time for questions and book signings afterwards.

The full festival programme is here – there's plenty of great events on throughout the week.

Readings from A Sky Full Of Birds

I’ve got a few readings from A Sky Full Of Birds coming up over the next few months. You’ll probably get heartily sick of me plugging them as time goes on, but here’s the programme as it stands:

May 21^st-22^nd: Norfolk Bird Fair, Mannington Hall – readings/signings on both days.

June 2^nd: Kenilworth Bookshop – I’m leading a nature walk, followed by a reading/signing.

June 25^th: Lowdham Book Festival, Nottingham – reading and signing.

July 13^th: Jazz and Prose, Nottingham – signing.

August 19^th-21^st: British Birdwatching Fair – reading and signing session in the main authors’ marquee.
August 27^th: Bournemouth Natural Science Society and Museum – reading and talk.

Daniel Sluman, Cora Greenhill & Stephen Payne, 16.11.15

On Monday night, I was at the last Nine Arches Press/Crystal Clear Creators Shindig of the year, at The Western in Leicester.

As usual, the open mic readers were both varied and of high quality, and it's particularly good to hear pieces of short fiction punctuating the poetry.

The featured readers were all poets whose work I'm familiar with, and all, I thought, shared something in their delivery of their work. They're undemonstrative yet expressive, they pace both the individual poems and the whole set beautifully, and there was always a slight tension underlying their readings, a result, I think, of their ability to create a stillness in the room, a feeling that something is about to happen.

Cora Greenhill's The Point Of Waking is a collection that I've returned to a couple of times over the last year or so, and her reading here will no doubt send me back to it again.

Stephen Payne's Pattern Beyond Chance is recently out from HappenStance, and it's full of collisions between poetry and science, reflecting his day job. Above all, they're poems that constantly ask questions, both about their subject matter and the means of expressing it, and that curiosity is infectious - you start asking the same questions, too.

Finally, Daniel Sluman's the terrible is his second collection from Nine Arches. Judging from what we heard here, it builds on the many strengths of his debut by managing to be even more starkly honest. The result is both harrowing, at times, but also full of astonishing tenderness. The title poem, in particular, was stunning. It's a very difficult balancing act to pull off, but he does it beautifully, and I can't wait to read the book.

Nine Arches / Crystal Clear Creators Shindig

Daniel Sluman, Cora Greenhill and Stephen Payne are the featured readers at the latest Shindig, hosted by Nine Arches Press, Crystal Clear Creators and the Centre for New Writing, at The Western, Western Road, Leicester LE3 0GA, from 7.30pm on Monday, November 16th.

Dan will be reading from his new Nine Arches collection the terrible, while Stephen also has as new book out, Pattern Beyond Chance, from the ever-wonderful HappenStance.

As always, entry is free, and you can sign up for an open mic slot on the door.

Coming soon...

Words & Ears, 30.7.15

Sunspots on tour

Simon Barraclough is taking his recent collection Sunspots on tour - details here. I'll try to catch it in Nottingham or Oxford.

And if you need any more convincing, read this conversation with Simon from earlier this year.

Martin Figura and Helen Ivory at Jazz & Poetry

June's Jazz & Poetry, at the Guitar Bar, Nottingham, features Martin Figura and Helen Ivory, all the way from Norwich. They probably don't need any introduction, to readers of these pages, at least, but you can read more about both here and here - I can recommend hearing them both read very highly.

There are also readings from three up-and-coming poets – Viv Apple, Peter Newman, and Raegan Sealy – plus the usual jazz from 4 In The Bar. The evening starts at 8, but get there early - I'd expect this to be crowded.

Jazz and Poetry: Wayne Burrows and Helen Tookey

Wayne Burrows will be launching his new Shoestring book - Black Glass: New and Selected Poems - alongside Carcanet poet Helen Tookey, at next week's Jazz and Poetry.

It all takes place at the Guitar Bar, Clumber Avenue, Nottingham NG5, from around 7.30, and as always there's jazz throughout the night from Four In The Bar, and emerging poets at 8.30. Entrance is free, but donations are encouraged.

Maria Taylor at Totally Wired

The second Totally Wired poetry night, at the Wired Cafe Bar, Nottingham, takes place next Wednesday, March 4th, from 6.30-8pm. The guest reader is Leicester (well, Loughborough) poet and Nine Arches stablemate Maria Taylor.

As last time, there'll be open mic slots available in the first half - just sign up on the night. Entry is free, and of course there's fine coffee and other refreshments available throughout. There's more information on the event, and the cafe, here.

Fire and Dust meets Nine Arches open mic

Tomorrow night (Wednesday, February 4th), I'll be reading with Jayne Stanton at the Big Comfy Bookshop, Coventry CV1 5EA, as part of the Fire and Dust/Nine Arches open mic.

The open mic slots, which feature both poetry and flash fiction, start from 7.30pm, with the readings from around 9pm. Come along and sign up, and join in the fun.

Poetry at Wired Cafe Bar

This Thursday, January 15th, sees the first of a series of poetry readings/open mics at Wired Cafe Bar, 42 Pelham Street, Nottingham, NG1 2EG.

I'm delighted to be the featured reader for this first event, which runs from 6.30pm-8pm. Entry is free.

If you'd like to read at the open mic, sign-up is from 6pm-6.15pm.

Five Leaves Bookshop reading

This Sunday, December 7th, I'll be reading with fellow Nine Arches poets Bobby Parker, Dorothy Lehane and Tony Williams at the Five Leaves Bookshop, Long Row, Nottingham, NG1 2DH (it's only a minute's walk from the Market Square).

It starts at the very civilised time of 4.30pm, entry is £3, and refreshments will be available, and you can read much more about it here.

It's also worth pointing out that you'd be well advised to arrive earlier, to give you a chance to browse this superb independent bookshop.