poetry
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A big thank you to Claire Askew for organising Wednesday night’s this collection friendly slam and running it so smoothly. I had a really good evening, even though I was knocked out in the first round. Yes, I was a bit disappointed to fall at the first hurdle — especially because I felt I read…
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Just a quick post to remind anyone in and around Edinburgh that I’ll be reading at the thiscollection friendly slam tomorrow night. At least, I’ll definitely be in the first round! I certainly hope to make it all the way to the end but, in a scoring innovation dreamt up by Claire Askew, that’s for…
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A huge thank you to Ajay Close for inviting me to do the workshop at the Writers Day in Perth on Saturday, and to the participants, who included my fellow HappenStance poet Patricia Ace: I had a great time (although it might have been a good day for a stroll in Hyde Park as well).…
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Don’t let that post title worry you: I’m not revealing a previously undisclosed predeliction for the gee-gees. Au contraire, I’m just excited to be appearing at this year’s Greenbelt festival, which is based at Cheltenham racecourse. For those of you unfamiliar with Greenbelt, it describes itself as a festival “where faith, arts and justice collide”,…
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This year’s Edwin Morgan poetry competition was launched last week. With a first prize of £5,000 and others of £1,000, £500 and £50 (x 2), it’s one of the richest poetry prizes in Britain, but the kudos of being thus associated with Morgan’s name would itself be a high reward in my book. And, of…
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No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader. Whether you are setting out on your journey into poetry or have already been on the road a long time, Robert Frost’s statement rings true. Join me to explore ways of bringing that element of surprise into your writing from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm…
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I’ve just seen that the latest Magma e-newsletter includes a rather lovely mention of The Ambulance Box in Jacqueline Saphra’s article on catharsis in poetry. She says: There are countless poems or collections that successfully achieve the cathartic effect — for me at least — so I thought I’d do a whistle-stop tour of just…
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It’s World Book Night on Saturday 5 March, and St John’s Church, Linlithgow has a juicy wee event planned to celebrate. It’s the brainchild of David Todd, community outreach pastor, who is a registered World Book Night book giver-away, and I’ll be taking part. David will be giving away his WBN copies of Stuart: A…
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When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to be… I think I wanted to either be a poet, a priest, or a pianist. I decided by being a songwriter I could be all three at once. When I got serious about songwriting, it was the first time in my life that I…
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On Saturday, the fine London-based Donut Press celebrated its 10th birthday with a quintuple book launch — Matthew Caley, Jude Cowan, AB Jackson, Wayne Holloway-Smith and Ahren Warner all launched their new pamphlets. I’m particularly looking forward to ABJ’s Apocrypha. I’ve heard him read from the sequence before and will be at the Glasgow launch…
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“I think when you’re a poet you have to forget you’re a poet — a real poet doesn’t draw attention to the fact he’s a poet. The reason a poet is a poet is to write poems, not to advertise himself as a poet.” The great Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai in a fascinating Paris Review…
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The shortlist for this year’s Crashaw prize was announced this week, and I was delighted to see that my friend Stephen Nelson is among their number. I was almost equally pleased to see that he’s the first of the shortlisted authors to be profiled on the Salt blog. All digits are disecting for him. Stephen…
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There was a goodly crowd for the Scottish Poetry Library‘s flash mob outside St Giles this lunchtime. It was fun! I saw several lovely people I wouldn’t normally see of a lunchtime and was interviewed by a journalist, though I probably wittered nonsense away at her. There’s a video on The Scotsman website with footage…
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January 25th is nearly upon us once more, and the world resounds to the tones of Burns’s poems. The Scottish Poetry Library and Let’s Get Lyrical have come up with a typically fun and inventive way of celebrating our most celebrated of Scots poets: a flashmob outside St Giles cathedral tomorrow at 1 pm. Instructions…
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The full programme for this year’s StAnza is now available – has been for a few weeks, in fact – and it looks really interesting. It’s not packed with really big names and looks all the more stimulating for that. I’m particularly pleased to see a strong showing of translated poets – and not all…
Amy Jo Philip 