Lifesaving Lines: The Gift, by Brendan Kennelly

I was at a thing. Very rarely for me, it was my own thing, only my second in front of … More

Losing My Ambition

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of … More

Rupert Loydell is shouting at the countryside. I have got up at sparrow-fart to drive him to the Blandford … More

I do not stammer, but some of my earliest memories of speaking at school (‘What are eight sevens, Wilson?’) are … More

Some writers influence you through the pull of their imagination on your work, opening up new worlds as you read … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

Though I am reading from it, the book is nowhere to be seen. As well as normal people, some poets … More

I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More

Dan O’Brien began by saying he wasn’t really a poet, but a ‘moonlighting playwright’. Selima Hill took out her glasses, … More

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

Below is a collection of my blog posts for the 2014 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. I will update it as I … More

I have finished the thing. People come up to me to say things. It seems to have gone well. While … More

I am at a thing. It is my thing, contributing to the thing of others, who I do not know. … More

Or this one. You arrive at the venue early but there is no one there to greet you. You pace … More

You’re at a reading, to support a friend. It is not going well. Not your friend, who is quietly stealing … More

The Little Snoring Poetry Group have written to you asking if you would come and read to them some of … More