Amy Jo Philip
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Got back a couple of days ago from a week away near Manchester, which happened to coincide with the Manchester Literature Festival. There was a fair bit I’d have loved to have seen, but one I certainly couldn’t miss was the Northern Salt reading with my fellow Salt authors Elizabeth Baines, Robert Graham, Mark Illis…
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An even happier national poetry day than normal here, as I can reveal that The Ambulance Box has been shortlisted for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize! I’m joined on the shortlist by Forward nominee and fellow Salt author Siân Hughes, Forward nominee J O Morgan, Templar poet Dawn Wood and a name new to me:…
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It’s a touch rough and ready, perhaps — not the steadiest cam in the world — but I’ve just discovered this video of a little over half my Merchant City Festival set lurking on YouTube. You can watch me read “Cardiac”, “In Question to the Answers?”, “The Invention of Zero” and “The Ambulance Box”. (I really…
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Having become conscious that the Salt website it was becoming a microblogosphere of its own, the team have consolidated the Salt Confidential, Salt Office Life and Cyclone Virtual Book Tour blogs into a single smart, new Salt blog. Not only does it have a clean new look, but it feels like the blog has a…
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My contributors copy of The Edinburgh Review 127 arrived in the post on Thursday. This issue is dedicated to Iraq and includes five of my Scots translations of poems from Sinan Antoon‘s The Baghdad Blues. I had the pleasure of meeting Sinan when he was in Edinburgh for the Reel Iraq festival. I’ve not had…
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Yes, it was a busy weekend. After the Golden Hour kneesings-up, it was off to Glasgow on Saturday for the Merchant City Festival writing conference. I wasn’t able to catch much of the event outside of my workshop and reading, but I did hear some of the panel discussion and contribute to the ensuing lively…
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It was a week for anthologies last week, what with the Forward book arriving in the post and the launch of The Golden Hour Book Vol ii at Blackwell’s on South Bridge (the old James Thin shop, for those who remember that much-lamented Edinburgh institution of yore). The GH book is a triumph, I have to…
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Yesterday, my copy of The Forward Book of Poetry 2010 arrived through the post. And a lovely job they’ve done of it too. The cover design is strong, elegant, and simple; the book is pleasantly thick and chunky in the hand. Indeed, the back cover proclaims it “the biggest yet” of the Forward books, with…
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My workshop at the 2nd Annual Merchant City Festival Writing, Literature and Cultural Conference* is set for 2:15 pm. Details are below; you can view the full programme at the link above. 2:15pm – 3:30pm, Fressh Cafe and Coffee Shop Cooking in the kitchen: ANDREW PHILIP, author of the collection The Ambulance Box, Highly Commended by…
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Here’s the poster for the Merchant City Festival writing conference: It doesn’t have my name on it, but I will be workshopping and reading as previously advertised! Times are still to be confirmed, but it looks like the workshop will be about 2 pm. Check the ONE magazine site for further updates on the line-up.
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And Michel Faber. And Louise Welsh. And various others: This photo a table in Blackwell’s was taken by my friend Anneleen. It probably represents the closest I’ll ever get to stardom and notoriety!
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I’ve mentioned the SANDS UK Why 17? campaign before. It highlights the fact that 17 babies a day are stillborn or die neonatally in the UK and calls for more research to be done into the cause of these deaths. A crucial part of this is the Saving Babies’ Lives report. For obvious reasons, this…
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Oscar’s in the air this weather: from Katy Evans-Bush’s poems about him and Henry James, through her post the other day about his poetry criticism* and, of course, the new film of The Picture of Dorian Gray to the theme Merchant City Festival writers conference, taken from an essay of his, “The Decay of Lying”.…
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A wee update on the launch of The Golden Hour Book ii: the readers will be Aiko Harman, Robert Alan Jamieson, Alan Gillis, Julia Boll and me. The two Alans are well worth hearing. I’m not familiar with Aiko or Julia’s work, so I’m looking forward to hearing some writers new to me. It’s at…
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I found out this afternoon that, along with six other Salt poets, I’ve been highly commended in the Forward prize! “Summa”, from The Ambulance Box, is included in this year’s anthology The Forward Book of Poetry 2010, which is published in October. The other highly commended Salters are: Katy Evans-Bush, Luke Kennard, Andrea Porter, Anthony…
Amy Jo Philip 