Category: Readings

Readings, writing, reviews & general catchup

Finally, here I am putting my head above the parapet. It’s been a lovely full summer. Not so much for the garden, which suffered from a too-early onset of dry weather, then the nail in the coffin of the hosepipe ban. We did get a modest harvest of cucumbers, courgettes and tomatoes, although quite a few plants failed.  But plenty of fun stuff: a big family holiday, long in the planning, an extended visit from stepdaughter over from Australia that really energised me, then most recently a two week holiday a deux in Sicily. I’m a lucky woman in so many ways, I won’t bore you with the detail. Let’s just say I’m back and I have that good feeling that comes with the move into Autumn.

Readings

Eighteen hours after crawling into bed on Tuesday morning, after a day’s driving followed by a flight delay, I was at the Hurstpierpoint Festival taking part in a group poetry reading organised by poet friend Miriam Patrick. Miriam is a very talented poet who gives so much of her time to others. A number of the attendees on Tuesday were members of Miriam’s poetry reading group that she set up in the village. It was a good event – I think the room was full, and we all got a warm reception. Miriam read some engaging poems about work, with themes ranging from artist’s muse Lizzie Siddal to Aquinas’s angels dancing on a pinhead. Wendy Klein was also reading, from her pamphlet ‘Having Her Cake’. The collection tackles the subject of assisted dying, with reference to a close friend who made that choice in California, where the process is not illegal. I found it an intense and moving reading.

Meanwhile, forthcoming readings are just around the corner. Please come along if any of them are near you. (I’m also looking for more reading opps next year, so if there’s a poetry event near you that you think I could ask to read at, please let me know.)

Tuesday 7 October 7.45 – 9.30pm: Ouse Muse, Bedford

Friday 12 December 8pm: Reading Poets Cafe

Writing

I’ve been pondering why I’m so lacking in any impetus to write at the moment. After all, if the sun-drenched historic gorgeousness and energy of Sicily doesn’t inspire me, what the heck will? Actually, those fabulous mosaics at Villa Romana Casale of female bikini-clad athletes are pretty inspirational. But sometimes (usually, for me) it’s a small thing that pops out unexpectedly. Among the pile of publications and catalogues waiting for me to read when I got back was a copy of the new-look Times Literary Supplement, bigger and thicker than before and every two weeks rather than weekly. I had barely got into it when today the latest issue dropped though the letter box. A quick skim for poetry content revealed a poem by Jemma Borg called ‘Before & after the night’. (Apologies if this link takes you to a paywall.) As I read it, I felt little lights going off in my brain accompanied by the kind of ‘wish I’d written that’ feeling that can be inspirational but also saddening. Like Salieri in Amadeus, melting in the face of Mozart’s brilliance and at recognising that he himself will never be more than a reasonably good musician. Thankfully, Jemma’s poem had more of a positive than negative effect on me! So I’ve just ordered a copy of her collection Wilder and a already noodling through a few ideas.

Reviews

I’m not the greatest trumpet-blower as you know, but it would do a disservice to D A Prince and Mat Riches not to link to their wonderful reviews of The Mayday Diaries. Davina’s is on the London Grip website and Mat’s is here on Ink & Sweat & Tears. How lovely to have a book read so closely and with such insight. I’m very thankful for the time and effort both poets made. There’s another fillip for the book coming up later in the year, but more about that, er, later.

Subs windows

One job I have managed to get done this week has been the quarterly spreadsheet update of magazine submissions windows. It seems to be getting more complicated, with more journals stipulating more and more micro-guidelines, the rise of submissions fees (but also, the rise of payment for publication), also more publications making their subs windows even shorter and harder to predict. I’m wondering if the spreadsheet in its current format could be slimmed down and made more relevant. I know, I’ve talked about reviewing it before now. But I think a plan is starting to formulate.

Summer, busy, change, decisions…

Oof! It’s a unusually busy summer this year. Family visits, a big trip away, stuff on my to-do list such as a book review for The Frogmore Papers and a note to self to ‘get some more poems out’. Then there’s admin for forthcoming singing workshops. 2026 readings to set/finalise. I’ve enjoyed the mostly dry, warm weather, but it seems to have hit some plants rather badly, including the majestic Marmande tomatoes (which I was looking forward to) contracting a nasty bottom-rotting disease. Ah well, that’s nature I suppose. At least we had some lovely home-grown salad leaves and peas quite early in the season, and the cucumbers keep coming!

I’m taking a summer break from promoting the book, although it would be silly of me not to mention being featured on The Lake‘s ‘One Poem Review’ section this month, as well as a forthcoming review in Orbis. My next reading isn’t until 16th September when I’ll be joining five other poets for a reading as part of the Hurst Festival.

I’ve been sending out a few pieces of new work, and some old work that I’ve been revising. I’m also putting the (I hope) finishing touches to a new mini pamphlet, in a similar format to Foot Wear (in other words hand-made and self-published).  Working title is Yo-Yo. I plan to sell it at readings from the autumn.

Usually it’s autumn when I get that feeling of needing change, or a re-boot, but it’s upon me already. Maybe because everything in the garden is ahead of itself so I am too. Peter and I have decided to make some changes to Planet Poetry. It’s now our summer break, and we’re still coming back for a sixth season, but the time, energy and costs involved have taken their toll. We both need space to work on our own projects and even spend more time with loved ones. So it will be a slimmed-down podcast that re-emerges in the autumn.

The quarterly spreadsheet is also crying out to be something different. I’m still working out what that is! Answers on a postcard please.

Anyway, I hope you’re having a good summer. I’m sure we’ll all emerge refreshed in September.

Book promo: readings, reviews, articles… plus other stuff

A couple of weeks ago I did a reading with Peter Kenny at at Arundel Arts Junction, a lovely eclectic event which also included a comic improv act, jazz for keyboard and sax, a photography presentation and more – it’s all happening in Arundel, people!

Peter and I are doing another joint reading at In-Words this coming Tuesday 24th June from 7.30 at West Greenwich Library, together with fellow Telltale Poet Sarah Barnsley. As well as reading our poems we’ll also be chatting & taking questions about Telltale Press. It’s free, and there are refreshments – come if you can!

Yesterday I was reading in the home of a very good friend. She basically asked me to come and talk about the book, and read a few poems, for a group of her friends. Susan’s enthusiasm and unwavering support for my work are both astonishing. So there I was with a small group of women, telling them a bit about the book, reading some of the poems and answering questions. It was a lovely intimate event. And I sold ten books! Much gratitude to Susan.

Meanwhile off the back of the book launch I’ve had a couple of writing commissions,  the first being this blog article on the Writers & Artists website, about getting poetry published. Another piece, ‘Top Five Poetry Books with Unusual Themes’, is due to appear in The Big Issue.  There are also a number of reviews of the book forthcoming, and I was delighted to get an endorsement for the book from Rishi Dastidar on the socials.

Coming up I’m reading at an event unrelated to The Mayday Diaries. Here in Eastbourne we have the wonderful Towner, a gallery of contemporary art, cinema and general arts hub. The current show is ‘Sussex Modernism’, and next month I’m one of five poets who have been invited to read work inspired by the exhibition. It will be an interesting evening; members of the public are invited to come along and listen, and (I think) add their own contributions if they wish (not sure how that will work, with the time restrictions, but hey. I’m scheduled to read last (a very common occurrence!) so I’m just hoping I don’t get squeezed out or that people will have drifted off by then (out of the gallery I mean, not fallen asleep, teehee!) Even if you can’t come to the readings (Friday 4 July, 6.30 – 8pm), do try to get to the show if you’re able, it’s really interesting and wide-ranging. It goes on until September 28th.

I’ve not been able to sideline the singing. The big and lovely East Sussex Community Choir is doing a mini-tour to East Anglia next weekend and singing an informal concert in Blythburgh Church, then a small group of The Lewes Singers are off to Ely at the end of July to sing the weekend services in Ely Cathedral. Some tricky music – we had the second of our three rehearsals today. It’ll be lovely!!

Free Verse, book launch & readings

The book is well and truly launched. A month or so ago at Free Verse, the poetry book fair in London, I was helping out Jeremy Page on the Frogmore Press table while at the same time handing out promotional postcards – a bit cheeky, but Jeremy was OK with it. It was a shame not to have the actual book to sell but hey ho.

Free Verse was fun. The publisher tables were so closely packed we were virtually on each other’s laps. We were sandwiched between Caroline Davies of  Green Bottle Press and Liz Kendall of The Edge of the Woods. The nature of the event means you do a lot of waving and not-quite-conversations with people, nevertheless it’s very nice to see old acquaintances and meet new ones. I crossed paths briefly with Claire Booker, Paul Stephenson, Julia Bird, Caroline Clark, Tammy Yoseloff, Isabelle Baafi (after interviewing her recently for the podcast) and Kate Noakes…and met for the first time a number of small publishers including Kym Deyn of The Braag and Carmen et Error and Julie Hogg of Blueprint Press. I liked the fact that magazines were represented alongside book publishers.

A few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed Planet Poetry, including one of our regular supporters Richard Chadburn, who promptly got his local bookshop to order my book! It’s always gratifying to know we have listeners, and fans even – tee hee.

So The Mayday Diaries – yep, we had a lovely launch event in Lewes with both poet and non-poet friends and family. I say ‘we’, because I had alongside me my ol’ poet pal Peter Kenny and also my mentor and Telltale Press Associate Editor Catherine Smith, who emceed. Peter read some poems, including those in his recent pamphlet Snow (Hedgehog Press). Snow is a collaboration with artist Palo Almond, who came to the launch with two of her paintings and spoke about how the pamphlet illustrations came about, which really added something special to the evening.

A few days later I was reading at Eastbourne Poetry Cafe and encountered Andy Breckenridge, who I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t place at first but he gently reminded me that we’d met right there at that event a year or two ago, when I bought his excellent book The Fish Inside (Flight of the Dragonfly). I put it down to momentary brain fog as I pondered how my first set went down and how to wow them with the second.

The second load of books has arrived and now I’m gearing up for more readings. The next is at Arundel where I’m reading at the Victoria Institute Arts Junction on Monday 9th June. A couple of weeks later I’ll be joining Peter Kenny and Sarah Barnsley for a Telltale Poets reading at the wonderful In-Words at Greenwich Library We’ll be chatting about the genesis of Telltale Press and reading from our books, and it’s free – this is my only London gig at the moment and I’m excited that it’s on my old stomping ground. Please come to either Arundel or Greenwich if you’re in that neck of the woods!

By the way, I’ll be writing a second blog post with a bit more about The Mayday Diaries and That Cover Image….

 

New book stuff, and other Spring shenanigans

Just back from a walk along the beach at Pevensey, part of the newly-established ‘England Coastal Path’. Sunny days at this time of year are so precious, aren’t they?

Now I’m about to get down to some work, mostly to do with the forthcoming book (ahem! did I mention that before?) which is now put to bed and being printed as I write. One of the last jobs was to decide on the cover image, which I’m very pleased with, and will talk about that in a future post. The Lewes launch is arranged – I’m sharing the gig with Peter Kenny who’ll be reading from his not-one-but-two pamphlets that came out in 2024. The original plan was to have the launch event on the official launch date, which is of course May 1st. But for various reasons it’s a week later. Close enough! Being a modest type (well, let’s just say I find it cringeworthy to do too much self-promo) I’ve engaged some help with promotion… more on that in a future post too, no doubt. Meanwhile I’ve made a Mayday Diaries landing page. And one of my wonderful blurbers, Rory Waterman, recently gave the book a glowing endorsement on Bluesky. Gulp!

Ok that’s enough gushing for now. Other poetry shenanigans of late: I really enjoyed the Eastbourne Poetry Cafe night last week when Mara Bergman was the featured poet. I really enjoyed her reading. Not only that but there were some good and varied open-micers too. I think EBC is attracting a more diverse audience these days, and well deserved.

Here’s Mara reading:

Mara Bergman reading

Next week I’m off to the National Poetry Competition awards night in London, which is always a happy occasion, and interesting to find out which poems have been judged the winners and hear then read.

Alongside poetry of course there’s music: concert with the East Sussex Community Choir singing Handel and Vivaldi this Saturday in Lewes Town Hall,  lots of forward planning for choral workshops in October and next Spring, for the Lewes Singers visit to Ely in the summer and even for Christmas concerts.

The other week I was fortunate to take part in a guided walk of Spitalfields, a historic quarter just East of the City of London, by the Gentle Author. I’ve been a reader of the GA’s blog for many years and it’s a fascinating trove of stories from this part of London -the places, the people, the history. Despite being well-known in the area, the Gentle Author is a very private person and never gives away their name. Which for some reason gives the blog (and the tours) a certain cachet. If you’re interested in London’s social history I highly recommend the tour. It ends with tea and cake in the drawing room of one of the historic Georgian houses on Fournier Street, home to many famous residents over the years including Gilbert & George. here’s the view from the window, onto Nicholas Hawksmoor’s iconic Christ Church:

Christ Church Spitalfields from the Gentle Author tour

And last but not least the garden. Various seedlings are on the go, and I can’t wait for the soil to warm up a bit and for all the Spring action to start. Hurrah!

seed trays

Readings, giving myself a talking-to and some early Spring cleaning

Actually January was pretty good overall. Not for the pelargoniums in the garden that have been reduced to a frostbitten mess. But our goldfish Brahms and Liszt have both been spotted alive and well so the cold snaps haven’t done for them yet. Also I’ve been illness-free (write it!) and the collection is coming along.

This time last week I was in London at the very characterful Club for Acts and Actors for Red Door Poets’ winter party, reading with Simon Madrell, Red Door Poets including Mary Mulholland and a host of excellent open-mic-ers. I was invited by Gillie Robic, and it was a delight to meet up with poet friends I haven’t seen in a while, including Jill Abram, Hilaire, Mary Allen, Chaucer Cameron, Helen Dewbery, Tom Cunliffe, and fellow Live Canon ‘pamphleteer’ Katie Griffiths. It’s really put me in the mood for more readings, which is lucky because I have a few lined up for later in the year when the book is out.

A few weeks ago was the Needlewriters in Lewes and it was so good to hear Clare Best and Jeremy Page read, plus meeting up with my Lewes-area poet mates. These poetry events are very cockle-warming I find, especially at this time of year when I really need to get out and beat the cold weather and dark evenings.

Luckily February always brings lovely things in this household – a birthday, a wedding anniversary and the promise of Spring in the offing. I’ve already been spring-cleaning my poetry folders, and feeling rather humbled as regards my poor submissions habit. I seem to have a reputation as a submissions queen, because of my spreadsheet. But there’s that expression ‘physician heal thyself’ (where the heck does that come from?). A number of people have accosted me recently to ask about magazine submissions, and I’ve had to admit I haven’t submitted anything much for ages. Why? I suppose it’s partly because I feel there are so many up and coming poets whose work is appearing everywhere, I’m feeling my work might be a bit ‘has been’. But I know that’s stupid really, because for all the ‘fast fashion’ that exists in the poetry world, decent writing is still appreciated. Plus, my first collection is about to launch, so this is no time to wallow in self-flagellation. I guess I’m making excuses for being a bit lazy. Having Sharon Black of  Pindrop Press critique my poems for the collection, in great detail, has given me a bit of a kick up the bum I suppose. As a result, I’ve pulled together all the poems I’ve written over the last few years that I’ve abandoned, sometimes after multiple failed submissions, others that I just lost interest in too soon, and have them now all in a  2025 folder ‘to be worked up’. There are over seventy poems or proto-poems in that folder. I picked one out randomly and (without planning to) spent a whole day playing with it. I have plenty of material to revisit!

New Year, new book and other news

Oof! December was a blur of concerts and all that entailed, then family stuff and various resolutions.  Between Christmas and New Year we managed not one but two mini-breaks: the first was a day in London which included an excellent guided walk of Nine Elms & Battersea with Hilaire. The next day we took off to the north Kent coast, staying in Tankerton and doing a whistle-stop tour of Thanet’s seaside towns. I love a bit of dereliction for its photo opportunities, but it is a shame to see how run-down Margate seems to be. Nevertheless it was my favourite of the places we visited, albeit very briefly. There’s a youthful, arty vibe to it.

Back on the computer, by posting a comment on a Substack a while back I seem to have got a bunch of new followers there, even though I’ve never posted an article there as far I know. I can’t spread my online time any thinner. Blog or Substack..?

Then the Blue Sky experiment. I haven’t been posting regularly there, although I still prefer it to Twitter, and have certainly come across many more interesting folks. However I’ve spent a fair bit of time monitoring new followers and blocking those that appear to be either bots or agents. They invariably present as men in their sixties, straight out of a catalogue, smiling, posing with a boat or car or something outdoorsy, usually without a biog or else it’s an AI one-liner such as ‘Enjoying all that life has to offer!’ or ‘Be kind to me I’m new here!’  They are usually following zillions of people and if they’ve posted at all it’s just vapid photos or re-posts that suggest a political agenda. I suppose a lot of people just follow back when someone follows them, which is why these fake accounts exist – to disseminate crap on an industrial scale. It was one of the things that did for Twitter and I’m sorry (but not surprised) to see it happening on Blue Sky. All we need is for all the trolls, eejits and troublemakers to start posting and feeding the bots. So let’s hope they stay away.

The collection is coming along. First round of edits & comments received from publisher. I’ll be going through them very soon. We’re still hoping to hit a March launch. Let’s see! I’ve got a few readings set up now, but need to arrange some more. First of all I’m reading at Red Door Poets on January 21st in Covent Garden, as the guest of Gillie Robic. I don’t know yet who the other readers are but I’m sure it’ll be a good night, with an open mic too, so please come if you’re in London/willing & able.

One thing I plan to do more of in 2025 is writing poems. Sounds simple, eh? I’ve got an idea for a proto-pamphlet in the pipeline, which I’d like to self-publish in hand-made form and have it to sell alongside the ‘big book’ at readings.

I’m still fully committed to Planet Poetry, despite Peter and I missing out on any ACE funding. On the other hand, we’ve got a small number of people supporting us on buymeacoffee.com for which we are inordinately grateful as it helps to relieve the financial burden. And of course my quarterly poetry submissions spreadsheet, which I wonder how long I can continue with to be honest!

Meanwhile the music continues… two one-day workshops coming up, for which I am the admin. And another unrelated project which starts next month. More on that at a later date.

Happy New Year to you, thanks for reading this blog and I hope your 2025 proves to be a goodie.

On National Poetry Day: getting autumnal, Medieval women, currently reading

An blog update for National Poetry Day! To celebrate, not only have I just recorded an interview with the immensely talented Tishani Doshi for Planet Poetry, but this evening I’ll be at Hastings Stanza for some poem sharing and workshopping. All very fitting.

Everything’s cranking up now it’s the autumn: the publicity machine for various Christmas concerts, book projects, the podcast starting its fifth season, the garden to be tidied up (though the tomatoes keep coming)…

A week or two ago I was in Seaford reading poems mostly from the new collection (still forthcoming!), plus a couple from Foot Wear. I took with me the last five copies of Foot Wear and sold four, which means there’s only one left of the limited edition run. Not sure if it’s a left or a right foot, teehee. Perhaps I should auction it??

Meanwhile I was very excited to see there’s a forthcoming exhibition at the British Library called ‘Medieval Women: In their Own Words’ which has started me submitting my novel to another round of agents. Medieval women is a thing! Just look at Janina Ramirez on TV, and her brilliant book Femina. You may have guessed I’m a bit of a fangirl. Come on, lit agents: there’s a lot of interest in strong 14th century women!

In submissions news, I’ve had a bit of a dry summer as regards writing new poems, but I’m very pleased to have one in the new Frogmore Papers and another forthcoming in Black Nore Review on October 17th.

Currently reading: Ellen Cranitch’s new collection Crystal, and Tony Hoagland’s final collection Turn up the Ocean – the latter I picked up in the Poetry Book Shop in Hay on Wye in the summer. Both books are from Bloodaxe.

 

A finale, a winning poem and some forthcoming readings

A few hot days of summer are here, yay! We had a dip in the sea this morning at a secret location, keeping well clear of the little seal colony that was basking on the rocks, bellowing to each other now and then, probably annoyed to see humans on their beach!

Then I was just trying to stay cool indoors at my desk, clearing up emails and so on, when I realised I hadn’t blogged here for a while. So what’s been happening? Let me see.

There’s a week or so to go until the DYCP deadline, and Peter and I are going to try for some funding to help us with the Planet Poetry podcast. We’re not hopeful, but I put together an application six months ago only to miss the deadline by a couple of hours. So I’ve nothing to lose in trying now, I suppose (except for a day or two of my life going over it and changing it all of course.) We have a handful of kind supporters who donate, and we’re very grateful to them, but it’s a drop in the ocean. Without funding, I can’t see us being able to produce Planet Poetry indefinitely, alas, but we’re committed to one more series at least and then let’s see. We finished Season Four a couple of weeks ago with an unusual episode in which we interviewed each other for a change, about our own forthcoming publications. It kind of broke our own rule of not talking about our own work. But hey, after four years I think we deserve to be a bit self-indulgent. Here we were when we recorded Episode 13 of Season 4, over by the sunny Seaford beachhuts.

Peter Kenny and Robin Houghton, your Planet Poetry hosts

Although Planet Poetry is now on its holidays, we’ve already got some exciting poets lined up for October onwards when we start Season Five. One interview in the bag and a couple more on the way.

Meanwhile, a wee sonnet of mine which was published in June by Ink Sweat & Tears was voted its ‘poem of the month’ – possibly down to the fact that I petitioned my entire mailing list of poets to place their votes – although I did not ask them to vote for my poem of course! Anyway, if you’d like to read it and hear me reading it, the poem and a recording is here on the I S & T website. I was very touched indeed by the comments the poem received.

Other poetry-related stuff I’ve been up to: writing a review of a collection by Simon Alderwick for the Frogmore Papers, re-reading Ovid’s Heroides for a project I’m working on, and contacting poetry groups and Stanzas to ask if anyone will have me give a reading in early 2025, when I’m hoping my book will be out with Pindrop Press. So far I’m reading at Seaford next month and at the Poets’ Cafe Reading in March, with dates at Chichester and Eastbourne yet to be fixed. Hopefully more to come, if I’m to sell some books!

Now back to some lovely box-filling and wordcount checking. Wish me luck!

PS I took the ‘bench art’ photo in Turin, on the roof of the old Fiat factory that’s now part- shopping mall part-art gallery and part-rooftop garden where the old test track still circles.

 

 

On performing ekphrastic poems, Poetry Book Fair etc

I’m not sure I’ve ever really celebrated World Poetry Day, which was apparently adopted by UNESCO in 1999 with the aim of “supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.” It’s held on March 21st each year, and this year in Eastbourne the indefatigable ‘Mister John’ who hosts a monthly poetry open mic is staging a special event on the theme of ekphrasis. The Hastings Stanza will well represented, and I’m taking along poems inspired by contemporary artworks by Anish Kapoor and Jann Haworth.

On ‘Performing’ ekphrastic poems

Reading poems based on artworks is tricky. If they’re famous paintings then at least some of the audience might be familiar with them. If not, do you spend five minutes explaining what it’s a picture of before reading the poem? What if the artwork is a piece of performance art? I’ve written something inspired by The House with the Ocean View by Marina Abramovic, but decided against reading it this week because explaining the artwork is too time consuming. Even with static art, ideally we would have a projector and be able to show it while reading the poem. But what if that’s not possible? I’ve opted for putting a copy of the art next to the poem, printing it out and taking a few ‘pass around’ copies with me. We’ll see how it goes.

The return of the Poetry Book Fair

Although it bears no resemblance to the London Book Fair, London’s Poetry Book Fair (also known as Free Verse) used to be a very jolly and uplifting event, independently organised, until the pandemic years. The great news is that it’s back, to be held on Saturday 20th April. The bad news for me is that I can’t make it. Organised now by The Poetry Society, the fair consists of around 80 small-to-micro poetry publishers crammed into a hall displaying their wares. A great opportunity for editors to meet their readers and potential readers, for poets to meet editors (or check then out incognito!) and sample their books, for tiny indies to rub along with the Fabers of the poetry world. It’s also a good old-fashioned networking event, even if poets don’t tend to use that phrase. Meet poets you’ve always admired and hear them read! Quiz editors about what they’re looking for and make sure they remember your name! Or just run into poet mates you haven’t seen in ages.

I’ve been to three of the Fairs in the past and helped out on a publisher table for a couple of them, and it’s always a fine occasion. This year I happen to be coming back from Spain that very day. I could probably trail my luggage with me straight up to London from Gatwick but it’s unlikely I’ll be there before 4pm, when traditionally things are winding down. Oh well, next year I hope. Do visit this year if you can.