What They Left Behind: new collection & launch events
What They Left Behind, my new third collection from the fabulous Shoestring Press, is published on National Poetry Day. To launch this collection, I’m reading with fellow Shoestring poet Jonathan … Continue reading
DNA time: a poetry experiment
Over the last eighteen months I have been conducting a poetry experiment with Pietro Roversi, fellow poet, structural biologist and dear friend, in order to explore the complexities of DNA … Continue reading
In praise of the pencil sharpener…
This poem has just been published by Taylor & Francis Online prior to publication in English in Education. I have 50 free eprints of the poem. If you’d like a … Continue reading
Unknown becomes known: discovering new poets, new poems
A key aim of the No One You Know anthology, which I am editing with my dear friend and fellow poet Anthony Wilson, is to introduce readers to poems that … Continue reading
Karuta: a frenetic poetry game
On a recent visit to Japan I got to see the poetry card game Karuta being played for the first time. Karuta is based on 100 ancient tanka from the … Continue reading
Anthology gifts & new discoveries
The best anthologies continually reward their readers: at each reading, each dipping into the vast poetry pool…
Against the grain: unbound poetry
An approval copy of the Against the Grain anthology (published by Nelson) appeared in the English department where I worked in 1989 at just the right moment. Against the Grain continued the conversations about poetry that I had begun to have with other writers
Student Golden Shovel Poetry Competition
International Student Golden Shovel Poetry Competition now launched: https://www.roosevelt.edu/colleges/education/community-engagement/golden-shovel-competition
No One You Know update
Excitement is mounting about No One You Know. A fantastic list of poet contributors is growing daily. Each poet will choose and write about an unknown poem by another poet and the reason for their choice of No One You Know.
No One You Know
We are thrilled to announce the launch of No One You Know, a new poetry project with Unbound Books
#NationalPoetryDay: writing Golden Shovel poems about freedom (updated with added Patience Agbabi poem)
New poetry writing resources for National Poetry Day using The Golden Shovel form and exploring Freedom
Nottingham Poetry Festival starts tonight
Over the next ten days Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature will be chock-full of diverse poets and lively poetry events to entice all sorts of poetry listeners, performers, readers and writers. Nottingham … Continue reading
Roy Fisher 1930- 2017
It was Roy Fisher’s funeral in Macclesfield this afternoon. I was very sorry not to be able to attend and wanted to mark the occasion in some way.
Poetic and Academic identities
Just published in Writing in Practice http://bit.ly/2lOoprj
Our article, Poet-Academics and Academic-Poets: Writing identities, practices and experiences within the Academy.
Gwendolyn Brooks & the Golden Shovel
The Golden Shovel Anthology: New poems honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, edited by Peter Kahn, Ravi Shankar and Patricia Smith, has just been published by The University of Arkansas Press. The idea behind this … Continue reading
Poet honoured on Waitangi Day: Selina Tusitala Marsh, Honorary Literary Fellow
Inspiring poet Selina Tusitala Marsh made an NZ Honorary Literary Fellow
Prize-winning Arboretum Shapes
I can finally share with you my prize-winning poem Arboretum Shapes. (It won first prize in the Nottingham Green Spaces poetry competition) Hope you enjoy the poem and congratulations to … Continue reading
New Poems
I am delighted to have poems in the Autumn 2016 issues of Raceme and Brittlestar – two beautifully produced poetry magazines that need new readers and, most importantly, subscribers. Both … Continue reading
Matthew Welton’s The Number Poems
After hearing Nottingham’s Matthew Welton give an exuberant performance of poems from his new Carcanet collection on National Poetry Day last month I knew that this book had to be my next poetry read.
Furious Answers and other new poems
I took part in the Ekphrastic Review’s 20 poem challenge last month. My poem ‘Furious Answers’ was written in response to the painting The Answer is No by Kay Sage (USA), 1958.
Highly commended
We are delighted that our Bloomsbury publication Making Poetry Happen has been awarded Highly Commended in the UKLA Academic Book Award (after being shortlisted back in January 2016). The awards ceremony takes place this weekend (9th July) at UKLA conference in Bristol. I would like to thank all of our many contributors to Making Poetry Happen for their wonderful chapters and evident commitment to making poetry happen in so many varied contexts.
Star Trek, Drafting & Pat Barker
We went to hear novelist Pat Barker speak on Thursday. She was in fine conversation with Sharon Monteith at Nottingham Playhouse in a benefit for Nottingham Unesco City of … Continue reading
Rain Won’t
Last week I made a new poetry discovery which is always a thrilling thing: the poem ‘Rain Won’t’ by Kenji Miyazawa, one of Japan’s foremost 20th century poets. Miyazawa’s last … Continue reading
Taking new poems for a swim
New poems never really come alive until they have been taken out for a swim and I’ve heard someone laugh at them or groan or even applaud.
Finding & Keeping Poetry: The Harold Rosen Lecture, NATE Annual Conference 2016
‘Finding and Keeping Poetry’ is the title for the Harold Rosen Lecture I will be giving in June. The keynote is part of the 50 Years after Dartmouth research symposium at … Continue reading
I Know This City
I know that Yates’s Wine Lodge
(where the Australian wine liquor is like no other)
is still Yates’s
even though the Friends’ Trio no longer plays here.
Poetry writing resources for Japanese Teachers
I am pleased to share with you a series of four poetry writing resources for Japanese teachers (of Japanese or English). I developed and used these with students, staff and … Continue reading
Lemn Sissay: Weds 9th May 6.15pm, a free Literary Leicester showcase event
Lemn Sissay in Leicester Don’t miss this great – and free- opportunity to hear poet and broadcaster Lemn Sissay MBE in action at: Lecture Theatre 1 in the George Davies … Continue reading
