Tomas Transtromer

I was away from this blog when the death of Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer was announced recently - there's a good obituary of the Nobel Prize winner here.

I bought the volume above about 11 or 12 years ago, having come across a few of his poems in anthologies, and I'd say that it's since been one of my most-read poetry books, one that I go back to again and again. I'm back at it again now, in fact, having been reminded once again of just what a fine writer he was.

Out now - Sunspots, by Simon Barraclough

Simon Barraclough's new collection, Sunspots, is out now from Penned in the Margins. Keep watching this space for an interview with Simon, plus a full review of the book and a selection of poems from it. And this isn't a spoiler, but it's really very good.

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.

New from Nine Arches

April will see the publication of two new collections from Nine Arches Press - Robert Peake's The Knowledge (out April 21st), and Jo Bell's Kith (out April 14th). Jo's second collection seems to have been a long time in coming, and I look forward to reading it very much. Robert's too - he's a fine poet and critic with a very distinctive slant on things, perhaps because of his transatlantic perspective.

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.

A cricketing interlude

Gale force winds, torrential rain, temperatures struggling to get anywhere near double figures - yes, it's the cricket season again!

I can't say I'm full of confidence about England's hopes of winning back the Ashes - under Peter Moores, I think they missed several opportunities last summer to rebuild the team for the long term. I have a nasty feeling that Gary Ballance's lack of foot movement will be found out by the Aussie quicks,  our own pace attack looks patchy, and much as I like Moeen Ali, I think we'll need a full-time spinner at some stage.

That said, though, I wouldn't write us off - the Aussies show every sign of being over-confident, but they've got plenty of ageing, injury-prone players, plus others who still have a lot to prove. It'll be interesting to see if Johnson and Starc look half as threatening on stodgy English wickets, and when things do go wrong for Johnson, he can implode spectacularly. So, my prediction is a high-scoring series, with three or even four draws, but the Aussies hanging on to the urn.

Very interesting piece here about the Aussie public's attitude to Michael Clarke - I'm amazed he still gets so much criticism.

Map: Poems After William Smith's Geological Map of 1815

This arrived the other day - it's an anthology from Worple Press, edited by Michael McKimm, that marks and celebrates the 200th anniversary of the first geological map of the UK (of any country, in fact), and the foundation of a science.

The poets contributing work are Stephen Boyce, Alison Brackenbury, James Brookes, Andy Brown, Alan Buckley, Peter Carpenter, John Wedgewood Clarke, Jane Commane, Elizabeth Cook, Barbara Cumbers, Jonathan Davidson, Isobel Dixon, Maura Dooley, Sally Flint, John Freeman, Isabel Galleymore, John Greening, Philip Gross, Alyson Hallett, Ailsa Holland, John McAuliffe, Helen Mort, Andrew Motion, David M Orchard, Mario Petrucci, Kate Potts, Peter Robinson, Penelope Shuttle, George Ttoouli, Anthony Wilson, and myself.

To buy it (it's £10), go here.

Sean O'Brien reviews Tony Williams

If you haven't already seen it, there's a good review of Tony Williams' excellent Nine Arches collection The Midlands at The Guardian - Sean O'Brien is the reviewer. It's a terrific book - read the review, then read the book.

Reading at Jazz & Poetry

This is me reading Magnetite, from The Elephant Tests, at Jazz & Poetry, at the Guitar Bar, Nottingham, in October 2013.

Jazz & Poetry runs from 8 until late on the second Wednesday of each month, October to July, and admission is free.

Thanks are due to David Belbin for putting this up on YouTube - there are also lots of videos of other recent guests up there. Enjoy!

Carrie Etter nominated

More heartening news - Carrie Etter's excellent Imagined Sons, one of my favourite books of last year, is on the shortlist for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. The winner will be announced in a few weeks - in the meantime, I can recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet read it.

Penguin poetry

Nothing to do with birds this time. Instead, it's the news that Penguin is reviving its poetry list, headed up by a full-time poetry editor, Donald Futers.

Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric is his first acquisition, and from all I've read of it, it suggests that Futers is going to be taking a refreshingly adventurous and open-minded approach to the list.

I'm also encouraged by the fact that the editor is someone who's clearly very committed to poetry and knowledgeable about it, without simply being a prominent UK poet, which is the case with many of the other bigger lists out there. Looks like Penguin could be worth watching over the next few years.

Famous in France?

Well, a little bit of it - the area around Chalons-en-Champagne, to be exact. And not exactly famous. Or even notorious. We did make it into the local paper, though.

I was there for three days earlier in the week, and I'll post a few pics from the trip over the next few days. The birds were great, the hospitality and welcome very warm, and there was even time to take in a bit of culture, history and champagne.

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.

States of Independence 2015

The sixth States of Independence book fair takes place on Saturday, March 14th, in the Clephan Building, De Montfort University, Leicester. Dozens of publishers from the East Midlands and beyond will be displaying and selling their wares, from 10.30am-4.30pm.

As always, it's free, and there'll be readings, seminars, workshops, panels and book launches, as well as the announcement of the East Midlands Book Award shortlist.

New from Muldoon

I go through phases, where Paul Muldoon is concerned. When I'm enjoying his work, I really enjoy it. At other times, I get that feeling that you get whenever you've eaten or drunk too much of a good thing (and maybe that's all that's the problem - when he's good, you can't help reading another poem, and another, and another).

But anyway, he's got me hooked straight away this time, if this Guardian review is anything to go by. All those Anglo-Saxon references, you see. I'll add it to the list.

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.

The Wanderer

A Kindle edition of Jane Holland's version of The Wanderer is out now, priced £1.99. I enjoyed it very much when it originally came out in print, being partial to all things Anglo-Saxon anyway, but the great thing about it is that it really requires no prior knowledge of Anglo-Saxon poetry at all - it's simply an atmospheric and moving re-imagining of a great poem.

Meanwhile, over at Out There With The Birds...

...my latest post has appeared - I'm rambling about Starlings and House Sparrows, their worrying decline, and our attitude to them. While you're there, have a good look at the site. There's all sorts of good stuff to be found - I particularly enjoyed Bill Wilson's recent post.

And more RF Langley

No sooner had I mentioned RF Langley, than I came across this article – Helen Macdonald makes a great case for his Journals, available from Shearsman. They, along with the forthcoming Collected Poems from Carcanet, look like essential buys.

Helen's superb H Is For Hawk won the Costa Book of the Year award the other night, and deservedly so, too. I've been re-reading it this week, and finding new things to enjoy.

RF Langley

On Twitter yesterday, Jeremy Noel-Tod linked to his obituary, from The Times, for poet RF Langley, who died four years ago.

It's an excellent piece, and reminded me that Langley is a poet I need to read more of. What I have read I've liked a lot. Anyone else out there a fan?

New at Litter

Over at Litter, there's a really good review by Andrew Duncan of Dorothy Lehane's Nine Arches collection Ephemeris - it's a terrific book. There are also two poems from the book, so you can get some sort of idea of what we're talking about.

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.

Rogue Strands strikes a balance

Some good points, clearly and concisely made, over at Rogue Strands today. I enjoyed doing English Literature as far as A Level, but I've always been rather glad that I didn't go any further with it - I suspect it would have put me off a lot of the subsequent reading for enjoyment that I did/do.

On the other hand, as Matthew points out, developing some sort of a critical eye is vital for any writer, and there are few better ways to do that than writing reviews (even if they're not for publication).

After London

I've written some poems as an afterword to the wonderful Observatory Press's new edition of Richard Jefferies' After London, a sort of 19th century 'after the apocalypse' novel. Jefferies, of course, was best known for his writings on wildlife and the countryside, and a fair amount of that found its way into his fictional work, too.

I was interviewed for the Observatory Press website, and you can read the results here. I managed to get a mention of great Cthulhu in there, too.

A heart made of worms and mud

Mark Cocker's Country Diary pieces in The Guardian are always a pleasure, but this latest one is particularly good, including as it does woodcocks and wigeon, two of my favourite things about our winter avifauna.

I've struggled to find woodcocks myself this winter - I'd hope that it's due to fewer having arrived from Scandinavia and further east, because of the mild weather, rather than an alarming decline. Wigeon, though, are plentiful locally.