SPS 1st Festival of Suffolk Poetry

I am looking forward to taking part in the First Festival of Suffolk Poetry. Tickets are still available. It should be a good day! 

Museums at Night Festival ~ Coming to a Museum near you?

Who dares to loiter in our lofty halls
while scholars burn their midnight oil at home?

© Caroline Gill 2009

from 'Sleepover at the Museum'

Did you know that the annual  Museums at Night Festival  takes place this week from 15-17 May?

You can read about the organisations behind the festival here and here.  

Back in 2009, The Haddon Library (of Archaeology and Anthropology in the University of Cambridge) arranged a poetry competition to mark its own 70th anniversary in 2006 and the University’s 800th. My poem, 'Sleepover at the Museum', was awarded Third Prize. You can read it here.

Cambridge at Dusk

There are lots of night time museum activities going on, so why not take a look here and see what you can find in your neck of the woods. 

BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz will be hosting a documentary about the initiative on BBC2 this Saturday night, May 17, at 19.00hrs.

Here are some links to a variety of Museums at Night activities ...

• Cambridge museums, including the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. 

• Museums at Night - London

• Keats House (a chance to get creative)

• Mr Smith at the William Morris Gallery (a chance to help in the creation of some posters)  

• Manchester after hours

• Black Country Museum - Red by Night

 ... and there are many more. Do check the dates and times carefully as the events take place over a three day period. You may need to book in advance for some of the activities. 

Poetry at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

I can hardly believe that my 'three-month museum residency' as part of a group at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge, via The Poetry School, is into its final month. It has been an unbelievable experience so far, with input sessions from poets and SPRI researchers alike.

We have studied and handled artefacts. We have looked at documents and charts. We have spent time in the museum and we have flexed our poetry muscles in unexpected ways. It has been exciting to learn a different vocabulary and to meet new people.  

three-month museum residency√

three-month museum residency

three-month museum residency

three-month museum residency

three-month museum residency√

three-month museum residency

Cambridge from the Backs

Back in the 1990s I worked for five terrific years in one of the Cambridge University archives, and I have been aware of a certain sense of 'return'. It is often the case, however, that one fails to appreciate one's surroundings and local resources to the full until it is time to move on!

'Behind the Scenes at the Scott Polar Research Institute' developed out of the Cambridge 'Threshold' residencies that took place in a number of university museums and institutions in 2013. The project was showcased at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas last autumn, and I was very inspired by what I heard at the event.