It’s February. It’s rainy and windy. What better reason for arty distractions? On Wednesday we slipped over to Chichester to see The Sixteen perform Handel’s Acis & Galatea in the cathedral. The next day we visited the Pallant House Gallery to see an exhibition of work by 20th century artist Jessica Dismorr and several ofRead more ⟶
Category: Places
Working from (a temporary) home
I’m currently working each morning from a little B&B room in a farmhouse in Pembrokeshire, while Nick is here playing the organ for St David’s Cathedral. Apart from occasionally getting up in the night and bashing into furniture it’s all very pleasant. A cockerel and a swarm of hens outside. Peaceful countryside views. We’ve hadRead more ⟶
London Undercurrents at Clapham Bookshop
Joolz Sparkes and Hilaire have been collaborating on London Undercurrents for a number of years and I was delighted when it was published by Holland Park Press earlier this year. I wasn’t able to make the launch dates and have keeping an eye on when they would be reading again. I’ve heard both Joolz andRead more ⟶
Poems, schmoems. Couple acceptances, a bit of rejection but hey.
Well hello! I am feeling epic. Not because I’ve suddenly won some dough or got a call from Faber. No! Health update (feel free to skip!) You may recall my moaning on about my bad back or whatever. It seems to be something else entirely that’s been sapping me of energy and slowly seizing upRead more ⟶
Estuary English
It seems as if class and regional differences are very much to the fore at the moment. No surprise there I suppose, nor the increased discussion of accent as a status marker. When I was growing up my mother was at pains to correct her children’s accents so that we didn’t pick up ‘lazy’ habits,Read more ⟶
Back from Ireland
The rest of my week at the Cork Poetry Festival was brilliant – I want to say that right away as a few people were worried about me after my last blog post – thank you so much for the messages of support/understanding! I think it took me a day or two to tune intoRead more ⟶
Home again, and deadlines approaching
The Swindon Poetry Festival over, I’m now catching up with stuff, looking at my book purchases (actually there are a couple of books I still need to buy, not being able to do so because I ran out of cash. Note to self: always take a thick wodge of CASH to poetry events as thatRead more ⟶
And so to the Tent Palace…
… of the Delicious Air. This will be the venue from tomorrow until Monday for the Poetry Swindon Festival (or is that the Swindon Poetry Festival? It seems to go by both names – part of its mystery!) I’m looking forward to being the “blogger in residence” for this year’s festival, which is still aRead more ⟶
Forward Prizes, Poetry Book Fair – big poetry week
It’s a good thing it’s pouring with rain today as I have every excuse to stay indoors, write, bake bread and plan this week’s garden tasks. I don’t know about my fellow poets but I’m all for a bit of quiet reflective time after the excitement of the Forward Prizes on Tuesday and then FreeRead more ⟶
Notes on a poetry residential at Garsdale
I’m back from an inspirational week at the Garsdale Retreat, on a poetry residential course that deserved to be full but wasn’t – if you’ve ever done an Arvon week then I recommend you go to Garsdale for a change. Although the selfish part of me doesn’t want anyone else to discover it, I ofRead more ⟶