Last week I met up with poet friend Lynne to go to the Poetry Review launch at Keats House museum in Hampstead. I admit I’d not visited Keats House before (although I’ve been to the one in Rome), and I don’t think I’ve ever been to that part of Hampstead either. I grew up inRead more ⟶
Category: Readings
I mislaid my poetic mojo in a Ghent hostel
Having been away for four days ‘helping’ with a college trip to Belgium (my husband was the tour leader – his A level students) I’m finding it hard to get back to poetry. I suppose it’s partly because I’m having to catch up with work as well, and not having a proper night’s sleep theRead more ⟶
Margaret Wilmot pamphlet launch
What a lovely relaxed evening we had yesterday at the Lewes Arms for the launch of Margaret Wilmot’s Smiths Knoll pamphlet Sweet Coffee. The upstairs room at the Arms is fairly intimate – I’ve seen it packed once or twice on Lewes Poetry nights when there’s been a big name draw, but on the wholeRead more ⟶
Upcoming events
Just a quick one … typing is a tad painful having just seen the physio about my shoulder (impingement of the supraspinatus and subscapularis, in case you’re interested). A few things I’m looking forward to this month: Tomorrow at the Lewes Arms is the launch of Margaret Wilmot’s Smith’s Knoll pamphlet ‘Sweet Coffee’ – shouldRead more ⟶
First ‘Poetry Unplugged’ experience
So much for my resolve to get out and do more readings/open mics this year. I haven’t yet plucked up the courage to tackle the Troubadour, although to be honest it’s partly the thought of making my way there (actually it’s the getting back from west London – late at night – a mission withRead more ⟶
Guest post: Dickman & Gray at the Poetry Cafe
Jo Grigg was at the Poetry cafe on Thursday for what sounds like an exciting evening! Many thanks to Jo for this guest post. London’s Poetry café on a May evening, it feels like February. Then poet Ann Gray describes ‘a pale lake pulling at the throat of May’ and I think ‘yesss’. Reading herRead more ⟶
Frogmore Press 30th birthday readings
It was an intimate affair: in the round at the New Venture Theatre in Brighton yesterday evening, the first Sunday of the Brighton Festival and an unusually sunny (if not balmy) evening, with poet friends and friends of poetry, all to celebrate the 30th birthday of the Frogmore Press. The evening brought some thrilling readingRead more ⟶
Launches, celebrations, lovely poets
Three days into May and I think it’s been sunny all week – that’s about 5 or 6 days on the trot, something we haven’t had in over a year, if not two. It’s not yet warm enough to take off my ‘winter’ boots (which I now wear nine months of the year.) What onRead more ⟶
From the Poetry Archive: Thom Gunn
I’m having a very self-indulgent morning. I was hoping to listen to an episode or two of ‘Poetry Please‘ but for some reason all the episodes from 2012 -2013 listed at the BBC iplayer site are ‘not currently available’. So then I moved onto the Poetry Archive for inspiration. I’m sorry to say I wasRead more ⟶
Brighton vs Forest: the result
It was hot stuff last night in the basement of the Poetry Cafe. I was just about ready to pass out in the second half and resorted to fanning myself with the folded remains of my poems. But quite apart from the heat (maybe it was only me suffering? must be age), a good nightRead more ⟶