She started as a name. There I was, following my nose, minding my own business, trying to ignore all instincts … More
Category: Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
Lifesaving Poems: Ted Kooser’s ‘A Rainy Morning’
A Rainy Morning A young woman in a wheelchair, wearing a black nylon poncho spattered with rain, is pushing … More
Laskey
Some writers influence you through the pull of their imagination on your work, opening up new worlds as you read … More
Guest blog post: On moving on, by Dean Parkin
I have been sorting. I have been chucking. It’s been the recurring theme over the last eighteen months. I cleared … More
What you read in 2015
This blog would be nothing without its readers. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, made a comment or a … More
Aldeburgh going
‘Which is why Aldeburgh going is such a disaster. It took years to achieve what they did, years. Of slog, … More
Guest blog post: Endings and Legacies, by Naomi Jaffa
In terms of my poetry world, 2015 has turned out to be a year of endings and legacies. The Poetry … More
Naomi Jaffa on the legacy of The Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
Don’t miss tomorrow’s guest blog post by Naomi Jaffa, in which she reminisces about two of her favourite poets from … More
Why do it?
because of the words and because of the books because of the woman in the anorak at the swimming baths … More
Another look at Lux’s ‘An Horatian Notion’
One of my personal, private highlights of last year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival was a Sunday morning breakfast hosted by The … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ellen Doré Watson’s ‘Be Here First’
Be Here First I don’t know my trees but I know my trees. Their angling for what has spurned them; their spitting … More
Poetry highlights of 2014
I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More
Why we need Aldeburgh
Dan O’Brien began by saying he wasn’t really a poet, but a ‘moonlighting playwright’. Selima Hill took out her glasses, … More
The woman at the workshop
I am at a thing. Not a famous thing, but an important one nevertheless. People are there, people you and … More
Mostly all the time nearly everything
Everyone who enters the stage begins by saying thank you * That silence * Mostly nearly all the time * … More
On poetry and blogging
In preparation for this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I was asked some questions about my blogging by Festival programmer Dean … More
Poetry and tennis
On the Sunday morning of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I breakfasted with poets discussing the theme of writing poetry and … More
Poetry and disobedience
Early on Saturday morning of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (Tom Pickard threatened not to get up in time) Robert Seatter … More
Prizewinning young poets from Suffolk
The opening night of each Aldeburgh Poetry Festival is about young poets stepping into the spotlight and taking the applause … More
An interview with Adélia Prado
On the Saturday afternoon of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Festival Director Naomi Jaffa conducted an interew with Adélia Prado, and … More
On generosity
By the time you read this I will be far away from here. It has not happened yet, but I … More
