Event Alert (2): Launch of 'Silver' by Sir Andrew Motion

Bury St Edmunds (Abbey Gardens)

So what happened to Jim Hawkins?

I wonder if you remember turning the pages of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson as a compelling swashbuckling yarn unfolded in your mind's eye. Former Poet Laureate and founder of the remarkable online Poetry Archive, Sir Andrew Motion, held us spellbound in Bury St Edmunds the other night at the launch of his new novel, Silver, a sequel to Stevenson's classic tale. The new book is published by Jonathan Cape.  

The event took place in the Greene Room at the Theatre Royal, the only surviving Regency Playhouse in the UK, now in the care of the National Trust. I won't write about the launch event itself in any detail in the hope that some of you may be planning to attend one of these evenings yourselves. Suffice to say that it was a joy to hear the poet reading his own words, with fascinating snatches of commentary thrown in along the way. We were riveted by prose pieces from Silver, and were also treated to a selection of Motion's recent poems. It was one of those evenings that left you craving more, and I found myself joining a mounting queue of (adult) would-be treasure seekers at the book signing table.   

• The 'Lighthouse' Stevensons
• Review of Silver in The Guardian by Daisy Hay