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

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

In preparation for this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I was asked some questions about my blogging by Festival programmer Dean … More

On the Sunday morning of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I breakfasted with poets discussing the theme of writing poetry and … More

Early on Saturday morning of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (Tom Pickard threatened not to get up in time) Robert Seatter … More

On the Saturday afternoon of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Festival Director Naomi Jaffa conducted an interew with Adélia Prado, and … More

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

The Burning Of The Houses Tottenham is on fire and I work in an arts centre where the sky is … More

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

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

Ellen Doré Watson was a new name to me until recently. ‘Be Here First ‘ is a good example of … More

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

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

Never having succeeded at school, I’ve always thought of poetry as the holidays, not term time. Hugo Williams In November … More