It’s always a joy to hear poet friend Charlotte giving a reading. There’s a weight to her voice, a rootedness … it’s hard to explain what I mean. There’s no act, no funny stuff. She presents her poems simply, and they just seem to appear in the room – completely in the proper place – like great treesRead more ⟶
Category: Blog
Marion Tracy spills the beans
On becoming a poet in Australia, putting images in the wrong order, and John Ashbery’s baskets: in conversation with Marion Tracy. When I asked poet friend Marion Tracy if she’d like to guest on my blog, we both had several ideas of what form it might take. We met, and chatted through it – I’ve known MarionRead more ⟶
Quick update on things
It’s been a tricky month so far for finding the time and inclination to blog, so I thought I’d write a quick update. I have a lovely guest post waiting in the wings, which I’m planning to post up later in the week. So … the last three weeks have been strange to say the least,Read more ⟶
Seven Questions for Poets #10 – Elly Nobbs
My final interviewee in this series is E.E. Nobbs. Elly is a Canadian poet whose book The Invisible Girl won the Doire Press International Chapbook Competition in 2013. I almost feel I’ve met Elly – she’s a bit of a poetry Anglophile given her impressive presence on our UK poetry blogs, at The Poetry School and numerous other places.Read more ⟶
Seven Questions for Poets #9 – Rosemary Badcoe
This is the penultimate post in this ‘Seven Questions’ series, I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have – there have been some really interesting and surprising answers, but also a fair bit of consistency – particularly when it comes to recommendations for non-poetry readers, and reactions to being asked to read atRead more ⟶
Reading of poem ‘Long Haul’
This is from a reading I did in Eastbourne earlier this year and the poem appeared in The Interpreter’s House in June. Apologies for the sound quality and there are a couple of visual glitches – I never have much luck with video! Long Haul from Robin Houghton on Vimeo.
Seven Questions for Poets #8 – Anna Kisby
I first met Anna Kisby at the Brighton Poetry Stanza and was struck by her writing. Sadly for us, she then relocated to the west country. But it’s always a joy to come across her work, and we met again recently at the South Downs Poetry Festival, where she was awarded first prize in theRead more ⟶
To travel hopefully…
..as a teenager I remember being set this title as the subject of an essay competition, and I charged off on what I thought would surely be the winning entry. Sadly it was not – but then again if I’d known the rest of the phrase was ‘…is better than to arrive’ it would atRead more ⟶
On a short break…
By the time you read this I will be in Italy, where I’ll have been for a while, so that’s one reason why I’ve not been all that proactive on here, nor on social media generally – at least, I hope not, as I’m trying to have a little break from it all! Thanks forRead more ⟶
Seven Questions for Poets #7 – Louise Ordish
A name you’ll have come across often in the poetry magazines is Louise Ordish. She is a talented poet who has had a number of high profile successes, including a shortlisting for the Poetry School/Nine Arches Press Primers Vol 1, and a poem nominated for the Forward Prize. I hope we’ll be seeing a lot more ofRead more ⟶