Boar’s Head

Really enjoyed reading at the Boar’s Head in Kidderminster, organised by Bobby Parker,  on Monday night. Excellent open mic and a great venue for poetry – up there with the Albert in Huddersfield.

Walking through the town afterwards was strange – Kidderminster now really is a ghost town – most of the shops closed, hardly anyone around, apart from huddles of people in the distance – a few kids on bikes  – and a handful of drinkers outside the Red Man on Blackwell Street.

But the event gave me hope – a cracking standard of poetry – one of the best open mics I’ve ever attended. The Boar’s Head is a brilliant venue. And Bobby on top form reading from his most recent book, Digging for Toys.

Poetry Reading at the Boar’s Head and the ESRC Seminar Series

Really looking forward to reading at the Boar’s Head in Kidderminster on Monday 23rd January, 7-9pm with Bobby Parker and Ira Lightman – not least for the chance to meet up at last with Bobby and Ira.

Also looking forward to the last in the series of ESRC Poetry Matters seminars in Leicester on Saturday.

Excellent week this week, at the High School for Girls in Gloucester, as part of the G15 residency.

Text Transformation: A level English workshop

Excellent day yesterday, working with sixth formers at St Peter’s RC High School in Gloucester as part of my residency with Gloucester schools: a poetry & prose workshop to help them with their creative writing in preparation for their second piece of course work for the text transformation element of their A-level English.

Corner Shop

Possibly the best in the world. Happy New Year everyone.

Happy Christmas

says it all, really.

Another photo from Rome in November

Taken in the cemetery where Keats & Shelley are buried.

AHRC-Funded Studentships available

I’ve just learned from Scott Thurston that there are some creative writing studentships available for MAs and PhDs in creative writing at Keele and Salford. This is a rare opportunity.

The Rialto

It’s good to get a poem in the recent edition of The Rialto. Thanks to Michael Mackmin.

Buzzwords & Rome

Looking forward to catching up with Colin Watts at Buzzwords in Cheltenham this evening, where he’s guest reader.

Excellent working with E2FEE students at Gloucestershire College, as part of the G15 residency recently, also with Adult Literacy groups.  Getting people to write poems who would possibly never have thought of it.

Another picture from Rome. What an amazing place – Roman ruins just part of the landscape, everywhere.

Rome

The view from our window in Rome last weekend.