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
Pamphlet for Friday is A Quire of Paper by Maura Dooley- a Smith/Doorstop collection of poems originating from her residency at Jane Austen’s home in Chawton. I love the way she captures snatches of Austen family stories and their everyday lives (whether it be making pancakes, patchwork or salve for sunburn) but also the feelings of paying visitors, including casual day trippers and Austen devotees paying homage to ‘my sister, Jane’. Dooley delicately evokes the spirit of the place and its inhabitants in poems which are amusing and tender in turn.
Maura Dooley’s A Quire of Paper captures the spirit of Jane Austen’s Chawton home.
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.
