Latest submissions news is …. no news. Or rather, another of my stupid cockups: according to my records I’d made a submission to Lighthouse in early April, but then this week when I checked their website I noticed it said that submissions are always acknowledged with an email auto-responder. I couldn’t find one in my inbox, so then IRead more ⟶
Month: May 2014
More words of advice from Mimi Khalvati
Having recently been to the last of Mimi Khalvati’s Lewes for workshops for a while, I realised I hadn’t been blogging about them as I used to. It was also time to clean out my ‘workshop notes’ folder, so here are a few more things I’ve jotted down from time to time – I hopeRead more ⟶
What makes you buy (poetry)?
First, a little story about sales. My first ever job was as a Saturday girl in the Lilley & Skinner shoe shop on London’s Oxford Street. I remember one of my first ‘training’ sessions with the supervisor, in which he told each of us our sales targets for shoes, matching handbags and ‘sundries’ – everythingRead more ⟶
Poets’ blogs – some recent finds
It’s been a while since one of my ‘three great blogs’ roundups, usually on a theme. The last couple of months I feel like I’ve lived and breathed writers’ blogs, and the experience has reminded me yet again how many great and well-established blogs still haven’t hit my radar. Even more so when I readRead more ⟶
Love this: recordings of poems by Denise Levertov
Huge thanks to Brain Pickings for leading me to this.
Thomas, Plaice, Hurst reading in Hove
Yesterday was only the second sunny, (almost) balmy evening of the year, and I found myself (almost) beside the sea, amongst some magical works of art and listening to poetry at Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery in Hove. It was strong reading from Siân Thomas, Stephen Plaice and Rebecca Hurst, and a super atmosphere thanks to the efforts ofRead more ⟶
Granta Japan launch
A fascinating evening yesterday in Brighton at New Writing South for the launch of the latest issue of Granta magazine issue 127, Japan, published simultaneously in English and Japanese. Two of the contributors, Yukiko Motoya and Hiromi Kawakami, read extracts of their work in Japanese, and their translators then read the same passages in English.Read more ⟶
Heavenly Bodies, Starry Night
I admit Don McLean’s Vincent was one of my inspirations when it came to writing about a constellation – that and the challenge of writing a poem about stars without the word ‘star’ appearing in it. It’s now part of an anthology of 88 poems (representing all the known/named constellations) and I’m dead chuffed toRead more ⟶
A very Lewes launch: Janet Sutherland & Jeremy Page
Somehow I managed to arrive too late for a seat at the Elephant & Castle yesterday evening (despite having a commute of approximately 30 seconds) but really enjoyed the atmosphere in the packed function room. Poets galore were joined by friends and neighbours for the joint launch of Bone Monkey by Janet Sutherland published byRead more ⟶