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.

Hooded Grebe courtship display

Birds of Britain, you really need to up your game in the courtship stakes. If you think the Great Crested Grebe's admittedly elegant 'weed dance' (showing now at a reservoir near you) is something to savour, then get a load of this display by its relative the Hooded Grebe, in Argentina. Absolutely breathtaking!

Stairs & Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back

Nine Arches Press has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a forthcoming anthology, Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back.

Edited and led by Sandra Alland, Khairani Barokka and Daniel Sluman, the groundbreaking project has been underway for two years. As well as an anthology (in print and eBook form), the project will involve a wealth of films, British Sign Language poetry and podcasts of poems online too. It is, as far as Nine Arches know, the first major D/deaf and Disabled poetry anthology of its kind in the UK.

The anthology will include work from a great line-up of poets, plus a range of essays. as well as poetry  - you can read more about what's inside the book here.

So far, the project has been part-funded by Arts Council England, supported in kind by Nine Arches Press as publisher, and by Writing West Midlands and Birmingham City University.

To get the book into print, Nine Arches is asking for a little extra help from friends and supporters – could you pledge £15 in return for a copy of this important and exciting new anthology? 

There are also lots of other excellent rewards for your generosity, including eBooks, discount vouchers, free Nine Arches goodies, Poetry Book Club membership, signed and personalised copies and much more – visit the Crowdfunding page here for full details.

Every pledge will help us make this book a reality, and every supporter will be named and thanked in the book itself.