All shall be well

I know, I know – not that Julian of Norwich quote again, I hear you say. But it’s the start of the year, I’m looking out at blue sky, and this is the first day since November 8th that I’ve felt properly well, and that the three colds I’ve had back-to-back since then are finallyRead more ⟶

City walk, a workshop, Van Halen & Jo Bell’s ‘Kith’

This is the first year in a while that I haven’t been driving up to the Southbank for the T S Eliot Prize readings this evening. I’ll look forward to reading all about it on various blogs. I’m having a catchup day between jaunts. Last week was the first session in Katy Evans-Bush‘s fortnightly small-groupRead more ⟶

New Year, new intentions

I’m a big fan of yoga teacher Adriene Mischler, whose ‘home practice’ videos I’ve been following for about six months. I’ve just started her latest ’30 Days of Yoga’ series and she talks at the beginning about ‘setting an intention’. I really like that idea – rather than New Year’s resolutions, how about setting someRead more ⟶

The view, looking back

I’m just taking a moment to post what will probably be my last of 2018, and I have to be careful not to descend into a sort of ’round robin’ where I refer to myself in the third person, blurt out a list of frightening achievements and try to put a positive spin on anyRead more ⟶

TS Eliot Prize – workshop & readings

Katy Evans-Bush‘s TS Eliot shortlist workshop is fast becoming an institution. Now in its sixth year, it’s a fine precursor to the Prize readings which take place the following day, and the prize giving itself the day after that. The format is straightforward – Katy reads the ten shortlisted books, chooses from them a numberRead more ⟶

What I’ve been up to, and look ahead to Aldeburgh

Just a quick update and a look ahead to the weekend … I was excited to see the T S Eliot Prize shortlist, especially as it included the excellent debut collection from Sarah Howe – Loop of Jade – which I mini-reviewed on this blog a short while ago.  I’ve already signed up for Katy Evans-Bush‘s excellent previewRead more ⟶

An evening at the T S Eliot Prize readings

Since being introduced to this annual event about 5 years ago by poet friends Julia and Charlotte, I’ve made it a fixture on my calendar. Held at the cavernous Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, the T S Eliot Prize readings seem to be as much about the socialising and the catching up with other poetsRead more ⟶

Workshop report – the T S Eliot Prize shortlisted collections

Tonight it’s that lovely annual poets’ jamboree, the T S Eliot Prize readings at the Royal Festival Hall. This year I thought it would increase my enjoyment of the readings if I had an inkling about all of them beforehand, so yesterday I was at the Poetry School in Lambeth getting educated. Ten poets, tenRead more ⟶

The year that was, plus a T S Eliot Prize-themed workshop

So many good end-of-year review-type blog posts in the last week or so. A few I particularly enjoyed: Anthony Wilson’s ‘Most read life-saving poems in 2013’ which gave me a chance to catch up on some I’d missed, in particular U A Fanthorpe’s Atlas and Derek Mahon’s Everything is going to be all right. JosephineRead more ⟶