Update from Romania ~ Orizont Literar Contemporan

Daniel Dragomirescu in the centre

Orizont Literar Contemporan continues to go from strength to strength. Daniel Dragomirescu, Romanian-based editor-in-chief of this international literary journal with the strapline, 'all the world in a magazine', has written an updated account of the story so far. You will find his account here.

The photo above shows me interviewing Donald Riggs, Teaching Professor of Creative Writing at Drexel University, when I was in Philadelphia in January 2012. The interview appeared shortly afterwards in Orizont Literar Contemporan.  

There was an excellent feature recently on a dozen Scottish poets, and more recently still, I have been delighted to find work by my publisher, Peter Thabit Jones (The Seventh Quarry Press, Swansea) in addition to poetry from Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, and Owen Sheers, Welsh poet, author and scriptwriter.

If you would like further information about the journal, please leave a comment here or contact Daniel via the website.

Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2013 ~ The Poetry of Things

We were really excited by the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, and particularly glad that we were able to obtain tickets for the 'Poetry of Things' event in the Cast Gallery of the Cambridge University Museum of Classical Archaeology.

The participating Thresholds Project poets were National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Jo Shapcott and Sean Borodale. The poets were in conversation with Steve Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English in the University of Cambridge, and Isobel Armstrong, Emeritus Professor of English at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Gillian Clarke

Each poet described aspects of his or her residency in an assigned museum - or University Library in the case of Imtiaz Dharker. The poets presented poems that had been written on their residencies and the audience were invited to ask questions about the creative process and about the way in which the poets had responded to their allotted collections.

The Cast Gallery

I am looking forward to another poetry event in Cambridge, this time in December in the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. The Fen Poets and their Young Curators will be launching a new poetry pamphlet on artefacts in museums throughout the eastern region. I am looking forward to reading my contribution. More details to follow ...

Going Green (1): Writing Workshop on Climate Change

I have been continuing to enjoy the annual Dylan Thomas Festival in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea.

I spent Saturday afternoon at an enjoyable, informative and highly stimulating workshop on the topical theme of 'Climate Change'. The afternoon was organised by Emily Hinshelwood and led by eco-poet, Susan Richardson (and here). It proved a very popular event, and a good time was had by all. We balanced a spell of organic writing with a time set aside for a more structured approach, in which each participant began to create a poem in response to various prompts around the given theme.

Emily Hinshelwood and Susan Richardson

The workshop was delivered under the auspices of Awel Aman Tawe. This organisation is running a poetry competition to encourage people to write their own 'Climate Change' poems. Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, and Menna Elfyn, award winning poet have agreed to act as judges. The closing date is 30 November 2010. There are categories for adults and children, with prizes of £200, £50 and £25 (adults) and £20, £10 and £5 (children). Further information is available from the Awel Aman Tawe website, if you tap 'competition' into the search box. It's time to formulate those ideas.

Seasonal Spotlight on Aberglasney (2): February 2010

I thought it might be interesting to compare the following photos with ones taken on 9 June 2009 at Aberglasney, the garden lost in time and home of the poet, John Dyer, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK. So this is a second batch of occasional seasonal photographs.

'Hear the thrush, while all is still,
Within the groves of Grongar Hill'

John Dyer (d.1757)

• The House at Aberglasney (partly open to the public, often with exhibitions)

• The view from Aberglasney to Grongar Hill (the view from my favourite seat)

• The Upper Walled Garden (with Celtic design flowerbeds)

• The stream in Pigeon House Wood - my apologies: my eyes alighted on the robin, and I forgot to photograph the stream!

• The Cloister Garden: an early crocus
  

• The stream in Bishop Rudd's Walk

Invertebrate Life

• I did not take any photographs of invertebrates this time. I noticed a number of snails in the stone-work. I looked for insect life on the edge of the pond in The Pool Garden, but did not see anything. (We have seen newts and an eel here: my photo of an eel at Aberglasney is here)
  

Bird life

• This magnificent Red Kite was circling overhead.

• I think this was a Green Finch. It was hard to see, right in the tree top - but its yellow feathers glinted in the sunlight.

• I guess it was not surprising that there was no sign of the Pied Flycatcher we saw last June.

Plants

• Snowdrops (and at top of post)
  

• Early signs of a Bluebell
  
  
  
• Primroses
  

... And finally, for Aberglasney's literary links (Wordsworth, Gillian Clarke...), you may like to click here. I hope you have enjoyed this virtual visit to the garden.

Postscript
We drove home via the castle at Dryslwyn, where we saw a Nuthatch...

and a Tree Creeper...