by Michael Mackmin | Sep 12, 2019 | Blogs
‘I think this is a really good time for poetry. If anybody ever thought poetry was a luxury, that’s gone. Poetry is a necessary remedy to a lot of the darkness we are subject to.’ Tracy K Smith, USA Poet Laureate, The Observer 30.06.19 The Rialto No. 92 is now out in...
by Guest Blogger | Jun 18, 2019 | Blogs
In March this year it was my great fortune to stay in Grasmere with the Wordsworth Trust as their poet in residence. The reach of the Trust is huge and I would urge anyone who doesn’t know about them to find out: https://wordsworth.org.uk/ The brief for the residency...
by Guest Blogger | Jul 4, 2018 | Blogs
Magic in the reeds: A day at Wicken Fen with Professor Nick Davies by Alexandra Davis “And I …will … Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee To clustering filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee Young scamels...
by original_admin | Feb 14, 2018 | Blogs, Competitions
It takes a lot of work to organise and administer a poetry competition and quite simply we wouldn’t be able to run it if we didn’t have help from volunteers. This year our help comes from undergraduates on the UEA Literature and Creative Writing courses. We invited...
by original_admin | Feb 14, 2018 | Blogs, Competitions
It takes a lot of work to organise and administer a poetry competition and quite simply we wouldn’t be able to run it if we didn’t have help from volunteers. This year our help comes from undergraduates on the UEA Literature and Creative Writing courses. We invited...
by Guest Blogger | Jan 16, 2018 | Blogs, Competitions
THE LEVERET For my grandson, Benjamin This is your first night in Carrigskeewaun. The Owennadornaun is so full of rain You arrived in Paddy Morrison’s tractor, A bumpy approach in your father’s arms To the cottage where, all of one year ago, You were conceived, a...
by Guest Blogger | Sep 5, 2017 | Blogs
The idea of poems crossing borders into different art forms has always excited me, and the BBC’s Contains Strong Language festival offered a chance for multiple crossings between dance, music and poetry. My poem This Tide of Humber, commissioned by the BBC for...
by Guest Blogger | Jul 28, 2017 | Blogs
Writing The Hounds and their Half-Hound Master Bowie’s Diamond Dogs was originally meant to be a sprawling stage show – a glam rock dystopia on roller skates. Its heady post-apocalyptic imagery and dramatic shifts in mood and tone certainly give it the feel of...
by Guest Blogger | Jul 28, 2017 | Blogs
On ‘Station to Station’ Station to Station is my favourite David Bowie album, and it seemed the natural starting point when I was asked to write a poem about the Dame. Its immediate successor, Low, is the better, more important record but Station to Station has this...
by Guest Blogger | Jun 9, 2017 | Blogs
It was a great privilege to spend a day at Wicken Fen, near Ely, in the company of Professor Nick Davies, who has grown to love this undrained, species-rich Fen after studying it daily for more than 30 years. Nick is an expert on the behaviour of cuckoos and how they...
by Guest Blogger | May 24, 2017 | Blogs
When commissioning pieces for the original Bowieoke event, I decided to give the other poets their pick of Bowie albums to write on, and to choose my own from among those left. It came as a welcome surprise that 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the...
by Nick Stone | Mar 3, 2017 | Blogs
We don’t tend to often get decent photos of launches, however Jon Stone took a fair few really good shots including some of the Bowie-oke. and we thought it might be nice to share some of them. We’ve tried to find one of everybody from the pictures we...