I was recently asked to select some readings to go in between the movements of a choral piece. The piece is Bob Chilcott’s On Christmas Night. In it, Chilcott sets a number of carols in a sequence, telling the Christmas story from the fall of Adam and Eve (yes, it hadn’t occurred to me thatRead more ⟶
Tag: lewes
Charlotte Gann book launch
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 ⟶
Readings, launches & seeds of a new project or two
We’ve been in Eastbourne a month. It probably sounds daft but I’ve been struck at how mild it seems to be here compared to Lewes or Brighton. The latter in particular. And yet they’re only a few miles away. Maybe we don’t get those biting Brighton winds here? But today I’ve spent all day atRead more ⟶
Reading from memory
Memorising poems has been much in the news lately. Classrooms recitals for children seem to be making a comeback. Julianne Moore’s character in ‘Still Alice’ is seen reciting Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘One Art’. For the last National Poetry Day theme of ‘Remembering’, Tony Mitton in the Guardian offered his top ten poems for children to learn fromRead more ⟶
Finding new homes
I’m currently in the middle of what the meedja likes to tell us is one of life’s most stressful times – moving house. I’ve managed to weather the others (divorce, bereavement, being fired, Liverpool failing to win their 10th championship in 1978 etc) so it shouldn’t be that bad. Also, I am lucky enough toRead more ⟶
More words of advice from Mimi Khalvati
Having recently been to the last of Mimi Khalvati’s Lewes for workshops for a while, I realised I hadn’t been blogging about them as I used to. It was also time to clean out my ‘workshop notes’ folder, so here are a few more things I’ve jotted down from time to time – I hopeRead more ⟶
A very Lewes launch: Janet Sutherland & Jeremy Page
Somehow I managed to arrive too late for a seat at the Elephant & Castle yesterday evening (despite having a commute of approximately 30 seconds) but really enjoyed the atmosphere in the packed function room. Poets galore were joined by friends and neighbours for the joint launch of Bone Monkey by Janet Sutherland published byRead more ⟶
Quick Friday update – events, submissions etc
It’s been a thin year so far as regards writing, getting stuff out and accepted by magazines. I do have one excuse, which is that work has taken up a lot more of my time than usual these last 6 months. Not that I’m complaining, as my work and poetry interests continue to converge, slowlyRead more ⟶
Mimi Khalvati on editing and what to bin
On Saturday I dropped back in on one of the regular workshops with Mimi Khalvati run by the excellent Lewes Live Lit here in my home town. I was lucky enough to be rewarded with a place in one of these highly popular groups about 18 months ago, and although I’ve been on a breakRead more ⟶
Submissions, projects, ‘poetry corner’
Sorry for the silence lately, I’ve been under the weather and only today feeling a tad more human. Then there’s been all the Christmas stuff, you know what it’s like. Anyway, here’s a quick update for now: No news yet from Ambit or Poetry Review, but I did make a submission to The London Magazine,Read more ⟶