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

Mostly all the time nearly everything

Everyone who enters the stage begins by saying thank you * That silence * Mostly nearly all the time * … 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

The Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2014

On the basis of these five first collections, there is no reason to assume the careers of the poets who … More

Aldeburgh and silence

Mark Doty had it. And John Hartley Williams. And Esther Morgan. And Roy Blackman, introducing Mark Doty talking about Whitman. … More

Allan Ahlberg’s genius

Photo credit: Felix Clay, The Guardian   Heard I can’t remember a time in my teaching career when there wasn’t … More

Thomas Lux’s syntax

I first heard Thomas Lux’s poems before I read them. In the autumn of 2000 I was sent a tape … More

Adélia Prado’s tone

She started as a name. There I was, following my nose, minding my own business, trying to ignore all instincts … More