Fiesta Time ~ 25 Years of Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

I got back some hours ago from my excursion to Aldeburgh. 

The weather was extraordinarily mild for November, though there were heavy showers at times. I was practically the only soul on the long beach during a dry spell. Has everyone migrated to Snape? 

I took part in Sasha Dugdale's translation workshop. My experience of translating *poetry* from a literal translation (since I do not speak the original Russian of our sample poem) was a near-novel one for me. Of course, those who know the original language can translate a poem with accuracy. But where does that leave the poetry itself? How much should we strive to recreate the poet's original intention with precision? How much should we aim to convey the way in which the poem reveals its magic to us?

I came away with a copy of mpt (modern poetry in translation), edited by Sasha. The issue (no.3 2013) ends with a fitting tribute to Seamus Heaney from David Constantine, in which Constantine reminds us that despite its personal origins, 'a poem is always also for someone else ...'

Fiesta Time: the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

The Aldeburgh Scallop

I have just returned from a brilliant day at the festival. The weather was chilly, with east coast temperatures, but the bright sun more than made up for the wintry feel.

My congratulations to The Poetry Trust for arranging excellent workshop leaders. I spent the morning in the Aldeburgh Music Room, in Val Bloom's workshop on poetry forms (right up my street!). We drafted poems from word associations and from Imagist ideas. We attempted a Nonet, and considered its inverted form, the Tenon.

There was just time to move the car and have a quick lunch (sadly no time for the famous fish and chips today!) before heading off to the Peter Pears Gallery for a worshop on 'Elsewhere', led by Dr David Wheatley. I have to confess that I just found (or made) time to slip into Reed Books, where I bought a copy of Swithering by Robin Robertson.

David Wheatley introduced us to Larkin's concept of 'elsewhere', and guided us as we explored possibilities of 'mapping out' an elsewhere poem for ourselves. We soon had rough drafts (though some sounded very polished to me), which we read out and offered for group discussion.

I wandered back to my car, passing - or rather, failing to pass - a delicatessan, where I bought a delicious chocolate and walnut brownie. The sunset was stark and beautiful; the sea, crisp and calm.

Roll on tomorrow when we go to Snape for a discussion of short poetry. And if you are heading in that direction, copies of my chapbook, 'The Holy Place' (co-authored with John Dotson) can be bought from the Festival Bookstall.

Speaking of 'The Holy Place', do join us for a launch reading on Tuesday 6 November at 7pm at Arlington's in Ipswich. The reading will take place during the monthly Poetry Cafe. All are welcome, and there is a small fee (about £3) to cover Poetry Cafe costs. Why not bring a bonfire poem to share ... 

Fiesta Time: National Poetry Day 2012

'when the stars threw down their spears ...' William Blake (artwork © C Gill)

I wonder how you will be celebrating National Poetry Day!

I am looking forward to the Gainsborough Community Library poetry workshop here in Ipswich. We shall be toning our poetry muscles and honing our poetry techniques. Each participant is due to present a favourite poem. No prizes for guessing which one I have chosen!

I hope to throw a link to NPD sites I see during the day ... so let's start with the official National Poetry Day site, which can be found here.

• National Poetry Day with the Poetry Society
• If you are in to txting, 'Texperiments' might be the activity for you.
• Poetry Prescription ... a panacea for all poetic ills
• Poetry Magazine (USA) reaches 100!

Fiesta Time (12): IpArt Short Story Competition Winners Announced in Spiegel Tent

Photo shoot with Second Prize Winner, Ed Broom (3rd from left)

David (Gill) on the left was taking part in the proceedings with UCS colleague, Gill Lowe.

Ed Broom with the Mayor of Ipswich

M.J. Hyland and Georgina Wroe

M.J. Hyland congratulates Ed Broom

Trying out the plush seating inside the Spiegel Tent in Christchurch Park!

Congratulations to winner, Ric Hardacre!

P.S. You can read a feature on the short story as a genre here. 

Fiesta Time (11): Forget the Skylark ... All Poets Aboard the #twittercopter!

Not actually the

#twittercopter

but a helicopter nonetheless (this one is at Tretower, home of the Vaughan family, so poetic connections ...)

I believe Twittercopter Poetry was launched yesterday by Sally Evans, editor of Poetry Scotland, as a means of feeling more involved in the Parnassus activities for those of us who don't live in London. The idea is that you paste the url link to one of your online poems into a Tweet (and Twitter will automatically shorten it). Be sure to include the following tags ... 

(a) #twittercopter 

(b) #Parnassus 

And then you send the Tweet out into the Twittersphere (or should that be the Twittosphere?) for all to enjoy, rather as if your poem was being cast adrift from the London helicopter. 

Then, when you are on Twitter, do look up #twittercopter to enjoy the Twittercoptered poems on display. I hope you may care to join in ... and encourage other Poetweeters by spreading the word on Facebook etc.

I was only reading Simon Armitage's account of the colossal Poetry Parnassus plans yesterday in the Poetry Society's journal, Poetry Review. I began to realise just how large a project it has all been, so it is particularly good to feel that those of us who cannot be in London, can still enjoy a poetic journey with this innovative, virtual and sustainable skyrider, the  #twittercopter! 

Ensure your poem is on board!
 

Fiesta Time (10): IpArt Festival at Arlington's with Heidi Williamson

Heidi Williamson

We had a terrific evening at Arlington's in Ipswich last night at the IpArt PoetryFest. Poet-in-residence, Heidi Williamson, read from her Bloodaxe collection, Electric Shadow. She also shared some new work with us and treated us to a highly polished, enjoyable and informative reading. Thanks are due to the organisers, Fred Ellis of PoetryAnglia and Doug Coombes of Ipswich Community Radio.

Fred Ellis at the microphone ...

David (Gill) reading his poem, 'What did Hadrian Say?' ...

There was plenty of time for poetry chat!

I read my poem, 'Moonshine', about the Snowy Owl that landed in Zennor in Cornwall in 2009. I read this poem for the first time at the Swansea International Poetry Festival in 2011. It has just been published in the current edition of Poetry Cornwall | Barhonyeth Kernow (ed. Les Merton). 

Fiesta Time (9): Scotland at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

We spent a grey November day in Aldeburgh, enjoying the 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, laid on by The Poetry Trust. We had visited this beautiful east coast town before, but this was our first visit in 'festival season'. 

Aldeburgh is proud of its poet, George Crabbe ... 

We had tickets for the Scottish Islands Reading event in the Jubilee Hall. Poets like Jo Bell, who had not arrived when I took this photo, and Penelope Shuttle joined the audience of local people (like us!) and followers who had come from further afield. There were representatives from the Poetry Society, and it was good to meet Judith Palmer for the first time.   

Words are the building blocks of poetry (see photo above), and it was particularly exciting to hear three poets flitting between languages, namely the languages of Gaelic, Shetlandic and English. Of course, this kind of rich diversity is not new to me, having just moved from the bilingual climate of Wales where the 'dragon has two tongues' (see here).

The three sets of readings were by Robert Alan Jamieson from Lerwick, Shetland; Meg Bateman, a lecturer at the Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, on Skye - and an honorary lecturer in English at St Andrews University ... and Rody Gorman, who was born in Dublin and also lives on Skye. Rody has translated Cavafy poems into Gaelic.

There were various threads running through the poems, and Jamieson's short poem, 'Welcome to the Folk Museum', struck a particular chord with me, reminding the reader (or listener) just how easy it is to 'romanticise' the Highland and island way of life, glossing over the stark realities at e.g. the time of the Clearances.

Readers of this blog will know that we have a great affinity with Eilean a' Cheò aka the 'Misty Isle'. We also enjoy (if that is the right word) the heart-rending poetry of the Raasay poet, Sorley MacLean, so we were particularly pleased to have the opportunity of hearing some modern Gaelic voices. It was interesting to learn that while Gaelic has a limited lexicon, it has a richness of its own as so many of its words have a plethora of meanings.

Thank you to all took part and to those who gave us fascinating insights into the poetry of the northern isles.  

Aldeburgh ... in November

We spotted the home of a famous Aldeburgh resident ...

Fiesta Time (8): Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

Sheep on the beautiful Hebridean island of Raasay, birthplace of poet, Somhairle MacGill-Eain/Sorely MacLean

We have just booked tickets for the Scottish Islands event at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, run by The Poetry Trust. Meg Bateman, Rody Gorman and Robert Alan Jamieson will be taking part.

A new Sorely MacLean volume, An Cuilithionn 1939: The Cuillin 1939 and Unpublished Poems came out in June this year. Thank you, Sally Evans of Poetry Scotland, for drawing attention to this on FB.

• Further reading: what does it mean to be a Scottish writer?

Fiesta Time (8): Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

Above and below: views from Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast.

The 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival takes place here next month.  

I had almost forgotten how beautiful the East Anglian landscape looks, with its intermittent 'punctuations' of dazzling white sails.

Fiesta Time (7): Closing Moments at the Swansea International Poetry Festival

Festival Participants: Final Curtain Call, Photo © David Gill 2011

The word 'triumph' comes to mind as I begin to look back on the extravaganza of events that have taken place here in Swansea at the Dylan Thomas Theatre and at the Nick Holly Studio Gallery over the last few days.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the organisers, Peter Thabit Jones (of The Seventh Quarry, Swansea) in conjunction with Stanley H. Barkan (of Cross-Cultural Communications, New York).

I would also like to thank all those who worked behind the scenes and all those who participated in various ways, enabling us to enjoy poetry, drama, music and dance from many different corners of the globe.

N.B. Some participants had already had to leave by the time this photograph was taken.

Fiesta Time (5): International Poetry Festival, Swansea 2011

Statue of Dylan Thomas outside today's festival venue, the Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea

I have just come in from a magnificent day of poetry, dance, acting and music from the USA, Wales, Israel, England, Cornwall, Scotland, Canada and Italy. Tomorrow we will hear poetry in translation, but more of that when the time comes. Old friendships have been renewed and new international friendships have been made. We have heard poems of mourning and poems of jubilation. We have laughed and we have been almost moved to tears. We have heard dialect poetry, and have seen poetry written in many languages in the various books by the participating artists - from Catalan to Korean. Thank you, Stanley (of Cross-Cultural Communications, New York) and Peter (editor of The Seventh Quarry, Swansea), for organising such a remarkably cosmopolitan event. Roll on tomorrow for the next round ...

Fiesta Time (3): International Poetry Festival in Swansea, 2011

STOP PRESS ... starting today ...

Swansea, SA1

SWANSEA, WALES: 16-18 JUNE 2011



The Seventh Quarry 
and
 Cross-Cultural Communications, New York 

A three-day festival of poetry, drama, workshops, and music ...

Writers and performers 
from 

the U.K., America, Canada, Argentina, Israel, Europe, Eastern Europe, and India.



Hosted by Peter Thabit Jones and Stanley H. Barkan 

at the Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea. 


Extra festival events at The Boathouse, Laugharne; 


Dylan Thomas House, Swansea; 
and the Nick Holly Art Studio, Swansea.



A commemorative chapbook is being produced 


and several awards will be announced. 


Dylan Thomas Boat House, Laugharne