Showing posts with label New Walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Walk. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
New Walk 9 launch & retrospective
This one-off event takes place at Five Leaves Bookshop, Long Row, Nottingham, from 7pm on Wednesday, October 15th, and includes readings from all back issues, as well as from Issue 9. I'll be among the poets reading, but even if that's not really your thing, it's a chance to look around and buy from a great little bookshop.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
New Walk 5
The new issue of New Walk magazine (No.5) dropped through the door yesterday, and as usual it's an intriguing mixture of poetry, reviews, fiction, interviews and articles, featuring the likes of Alison Brackenbury, Sinead Morrisey, Alan Jenkins and Sheenagh Pugh.
I've got three poems - Magnetite, Petrichor and Greenshanks At Montijo - in there. It's lovely to be in such good company, and to be in a Leicester-based magazine.
I've got three poems - Magnetite, Petrichor and Greenshanks At Montijo - in there. It's lovely to be in such good company, and to be in a Leicester-based magazine.
Monday, 14 May 2012
New Walk 4
Issue 4 of New Walk magazine is out now, and includes new poetry by Carol Rumens, Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch, Evan Jones,
Sarah Jackson, Clive Watkins, Julith Jedamus, Quincy R Lehr, Chris
Preddle, C P Cavafy (translated by Ian Parks) and others.
Other features include Victoria Field remembering Peter Redgrove, Gerry Cambridge on Robert Frost and Scotland, David Cooke on Derek Mahon, fiction by Alessandra Lavagnino (translated by Adam Elgar), and art by Jeffrey Blondes and others.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Reading in Leicester
Last night, I was at the University of Leicester, reading to a forum of post-graduate creative writing students. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening - the reading went well, and the three papers presented by students were extremely thought-provoking.
The first, by Michelle Fossey, was an extract from a novel in progress which is centred on one subject I'm fascinated by (religious cults) while analysing another (the clarity and transparency, or lack of it, of language). She also mentioned something that intrigues me - the tension that arises when conducting a solitary, private activity - writing - in an academic, supervised environment. Of course, that says something about my own writing methods and/or expectations, as there's no reason why writing should be solitary or private, but it set me thinking.
Gail Knight (I think I've got the name right) read an extract from her children's novella - as one of the other guests pointed out, even though it wasn't the sort of thing I'd expected to appeal to me, I found myself wanting to know what happened next, which I'd guess is what any writer of fiction wants more than anything.
Finally, Gwynne Harries read a number of his own poems as part of a look at the poetry of identity, and specfically dual identity (he's an English-speaking Welshman). My own mother's Welsh, so it's something I'm very interested in, and Gwynne also set me off looking into some of the traditional Welsh verse forms he touched on (I've tried the odd englyn in the past, but there's a lot more to discover), plus Rolfe Humphries, a relatively neglected literary figure these days.
Heartfelt thanks go to Rory Waterman (a very fine poet, and the man behind the excellent New Walk magazine) for his kindness in inviting me, and for the splendid curry at Kayal.
The first, by Michelle Fossey, was an extract from a novel in progress which is centred on one subject I'm fascinated by (religious cults) while analysing another (the clarity and transparency, or lack of it, of language). She also mentioned something that intrigues me - the tension that arises when conducting a solitary, private activity - writing - in an academic, supervised environment. Of course, that says something about my own writing methods and/or expectations, as there's no reason why writing should be solitary or private, but it set me thinking.
Gail Knight (I think I've got the name right) read an extract from her children's novella - as one of the other guests pointed out, even though it wasn't the sort of thing I'd expected to appeal to me, I found myself wanting to know what happened next, which I'd guess is what any writer of fiction wants more than anything.
Finally, Gwynne Harries read a number of his own poems as part of a look at the poetry of identity, and specfically dual identity (he's an English-speaking Welshman). My own mother's Welsh, so it's something I'm very interested in, and Gwynne also set me off looking into some of the traditional Welsh verse forms he touched on (I've tried the odd englyn in the past, but there's a lot more to discover), plus Rolfe Humphries, a relatively neglected literary figure these days.
Heartfelt thanks go to Rory Waterman (a very fine poet, and the man behind the excellent New Walk magazine) for his kindness in inviting me, and for the splendid curry at Kayal.
Friday, 23 September 2011
Snail Explains
Excellent little discussion here, on the New Walk Magazine website, of CJ Allen's poem Snail Explains. I found myself agreeing with pretty much everything Nicholas Friedman says, and also thinking that one of the things I like most about the poem is that superb opening stanza. I'd be terrified, writing a poem about snails, of struggling to escape the shadow cast by Thom Gunn's towering Considering The Snail, but that first verse marks out its own territory beautifully.
Monday, 11 April 2011
New Walk
Time for another intermission in the constant stream of hastily-written NaPoWriMo poems, this time to flag up Issue 2 of Leicester-based literary mag New Walk.
It well and truly confirms the good impression made by the debut issue back in the autumn, with poetry from, among others, Alice Oswald, Carrie Etter, Matthew Stewart, Dan Wyke, Tom Pow, D A Prince and Martyn Crucefix, plus fiction from Bill Jones and Robert McGowan.
Best of all, perhaps, given how difficuklt it can be to find extensive writing about poetry these days, there's a wealth of good reviews, essays and comment. J M Coetzee writes on Zbigniew Herbert, Martin Stannard (the academic, not the poet) on Larkin's Letters To Monica, and there's much more - I look forward to getting stuck into it this weekend.
Among the reviews, there's Geoffrey Heptonstall's take on hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica. I'll take a closer look at it on here later (probably after NaPoWriMo is finished), but for now I'll just say that I'm grateful to him for such a thoughtful and generous response to the book.
It well and truly confirms the good impression made by the debut issue back in the autumn, with poetry from, among others, Alice Oswald, Carrie Etter, Matthew Stewart, Dan Wyke, Tom Pow, D A Prince and Martyn Crucefix, plus fiction from Bill Jones and Robert McGowan.
Best of all, perhaps, given how difficuklt it can be to find extensive writing about poetry these days, there's a wealth of good reviews, essays and comment. J M Coetzee writes on Zbigniew Herbert, Martin Stannard (the academic, not the poet) on Larkin's Letters To Monica, and there's much more - I look forward to getting stuck into it this weekend.
Among the reviews, there's Geoffrey Heptonstall's take on hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica. I'll take a closer look at it on here later (probably after NaPoWriMo is finished), but for now I'll just say that I'm grateful to him for such a thoughtful and generous response to the book.
Friday, 12 November 2010
It was a dark and stormy night...
...but that didn't seem to deter many from making the trip to last night's New Walk launch reading at the University of Leicester, part of Literary Leicester.
There was a really good turnout, which meant that I was a bit on the nervous side when I got up to kick off the readings. Lovely lecture theatre to read in, though, with really good acoustics. It's always nice reading first, too, because it means you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the event.
I must admit I didn't know all that much of Grevel Lindop's poetry before last night, although he's a very familiar name as a perceptive reviewer. But anyway, I enjoyed his reading, and bought his Selected Poems later to bring myself up to speed.
Alice Oswald, on the other hand, is someone I've read avidly in the past, but even so I was surprised by just how surefooted her set was (I was probably expecting more of a stereotypical floaty, vague 'nature' poet). And what a great reading voice!
I was surprised, too, that the highlight was the new material - from her forthcoming 'selective' translation of The Iliad - rather than the stuff I know well.
Of course, readings are also a great place to put faces to names, so it was lovely to meet the team behind the magazine, including co-editor Rory Waterman. They've done a really superb job, and it sounds like Issue Two will build on and surpass the debut.
Among others I chatted with were DA Prince and Roy Marshall, who has two finely honed poems in Issue One. Oh, and a friend that I've barely seen since university showed up, too - turns out he lives and works in Leicester. A good night all round.
And finally, my setlist:
Prelude for Glass Harmonica
Windjammers
Dotterel
The Meeting Place
Summer Breeze
Birdsong
The Limits
Trees
West Leicester Lullaby
Cahoots
There was a really good turnout, which meant that I was a bit on the nervous side when I got up to kick off the readings. Lovely lecture theatre to read in, though, with really good acoustics. It's always nice reading first, too, because it means you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the event.
I must admit I didn't know all that much of Grevel Lindop's poetry before last night, although he's a very familiar name as a perceptive reviewer. But anyway, I enjoyed his reading, and bought his Selected Poems later to bring myself up to speed.
Alice Oswald, on the other hand, is someone I've read avidly in the past, but even so I was surprised by just how surefooted her set was (I was probably expecting more of a stereotypical floaty, vague 'nature' poet). And what a great reading voice!
I was surprised, too, that the highlight was the new material - from her forthcoming 'selective' translation of The Iliad - rather than the stuff I know well.
Of course, readings are also a great place to put faces to names, so it was lovely to meet the team behind the magazine, including co-editor Rory Waterman. They've done a really superb job, and it sounds like Issue Two will build on and surpass the debut.
Among others I chatted with were DA Prince and Roy Marshall, who has two finely honed poems in Issue One. Oh, and a friend that I've barely seen since university showed up, too - turns out he lives and works in Leicester. A good night all round.
And finally, my setlist:
Prelude for Glass Harmonica
Windjammers
Dotterel
The Meeting Place
Summer Breeze
Birdsong
The Limits
Trees
West Leicester Lullaby
Cahoots
Thursday, 11 November 2010
New Walk launch tonight
Leicester-based literary magazine New Walk (you can read a really good review of the first issue at Rogue Strands) will be officially launched tonight (Thursday, November 11th), with a reading at the Library Lecture Theatre,
If you plan to attend, you need tickets, although they're free. Call 0116 252 2320, or email pw108@le.ac.uk with your name and address.
Oh, and the picture is of New Walk itself, by the way. One of my favourite bits of Leicester.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Poems at Peony Moon
I'm delighted to have three poems - Gabble Ratchet; Wader Flock, Thornham Harbour; and The sea at Ashby de la Zouch - published over at Peony Moon, Michelle McGrane's fine webzine.
I've also got three - Summer Breeze; Dotterel; and Windjammers - in the first issue of New Walk, a new Leicester-based literary magazine. There's also work from Tom Leonard, Andrew Motion, CJ Allen, Rob Mackenzie, Hilary Menos, Jonathan Taylor, Leontia Flynn and Mark Ford, among others, some good (and satisfyingly lengthy) reviews, and a letter from Alison Brackenbury to Wilfred Owen.
The magazine launch takes place at the Library Lecture Theatre, University of Leicester, on November 11th. Alice Oswald will be reading, along with Grevel Lindop and myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)