The year that was, plus a T S Eliot Prize-themed workshop

So many good end-of-year review-type blog posts in the last week or so. A few I particularly enjoyed:

Anthony Wilson’s ‘Most read life-saving poems in 2013’ which gave me a chance to catch up on some I’d missed, in particular U A Fanthorpe’s Atlas and Derek Mahon’s Everything is going to be all right.

Josephine Corocoran’s Skip to the good bits was just the sort of ‘yearly review’ I’d love to have written, an entertaining walk-through of what she’s enjoyed reading in 2013, the many events she’s been to and her own writing – very motivational.

Katy Evans-Bush did something slightly different with a ‘Ten ways to celebrate Christmas with poetry‘ blog post, which included an interesting list of poets born in Christmas week, as well as suggestions such as ‘have a read aloud session after Christmas dinner’ – I can picture that going down well in some households more than others! Having said that, I remember a power cut on Christmas day a few years back in which someone started singing a Christmas carol, someone else joined in, and we ended up entertaining the neighbours with our impression of the Von Trapp Family. So anything’s possible.

Speaking of Katy E-B, she’s holding a one-day session at the Poetry School this coming Saturday, focusing on the T S Eliot shortlisted collections. I’m looking forward to getting a feel for the them prior to the prize readings the following day. I think there are a couple of places left so if it appeals to you contact Katy directly, and maybe see you there.