Poetry Matters (21): Emily Brontë Poem

Setting for 'Wuthering Heights'

It's good to have my Haworth poem posted on the Brontë Blog here as a tribute to Emily Brontë on what would be her 194th birthday.

You will find my previous post on the Brontë family here.

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

Calendar Corner (2): National Poetry Week 2011

We have enjoyed a variety of literary events this last fortnight. We celebrated National Poetry Day (or 'Week' in South Wales) at Number 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, birthplace of Dylan Thomas. Thanks are due to Annie and Geoff for laying on a number of events, and to Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry for organising a programme of readings for last Saturday night.

It was good to meet Ian Griffiths of the Suffolk Poetry Society and Geraldine Green from Cumbria. Singer-songwriter, Maria Lindström from Sweden, was on tour, and read some of her work bilingually. We were sorry not to coincide with Susan Richardson, who was performing on a different evening. Peter Thabit Jones directed - and acted in - a performance of his verse drama, 'The Boy and the Lion's Head'. David and I read alongside fellow Quarry Poets, Jean Salkilld (Tuesday Poets) and Lynn Hopkins (author of 'Creatures of a Dead Community', Seventh Quarry Press). Jill Goodwin-Croke read poems by Dylan and Caitlin's daughter, Aeronwy Thomas, including one about walking in her father's shadow in a literary kind of way.   

'Games' was the assigned theme for this year's National Poetry Day, so I chose my poems with this in mind, reading 'The Ocean's Tears' (a Tercet Ghazal about a children's tide fight) and 'Lament of a Lewis Chessman' - about chess (just in case you were in any doubt!). 

Exchanging news and views at Number 5

A lot seems to have happened since then!

We spent this afternoon in UCS at a lecture by Faber novelist, Louise Doughty, sponsored by the Suffolk Book League. Louise's latest novel, 'Whatever You Love' was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Prize and longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Louise, however, is also well known for her how-to book, 'A Novel in a Year' - and I was pleased to buy a signed copy from her before she left Ipswich.

University Campus Suffolk, Waterfront, Ipswich - venue for Talk by Louise Doughty