When did I first notice the magical little world contained in a front garden on Macduff Road? I can't remember exactly, but for years it's been one of my local landmarks, a spot I'll swing past on my way back from the park, wondering what's changed, stopping to gaze in childish delight. The front garden …
chaps
When I was growing up, my family referred to our soft toys as 'chaps'. As far as I'm aware, this is a family coinage, rather than a generally accepted term for teddies and other cuddly beings. I'm not, on the whole, nostalgic for my childhood, which says a lot more about me than about my …
in Time Out 20 years ago
Nicholas Royle wrote some lovely words about my writing in Time Out back in 1996, as part of a feature profiling four up-and-coming London writers. I'm still not there yet (wherever 'there' may be) but the support of people like Nicholas Royle is what keeps most writers (wherever they are) plugging away. My novel The …
Twenty-four hours in Ledbury
I overcame my PoFestPhobia and travelled up to Ledbury on Saturday for a brief taste of the largest poetry festival in the UK in this, its 20th year. And I have to report, it was a rather joyful experience! First stop after we arrived late morning: the Walled Garden, where we caught the tail end …
busy in a good way
There's not been much let up since my Thrive residency came to an end. On Sunday 26th June I travelled far north (for a south London gal) to perform at Finchley Literary Festival's closing event, the Poetry and Music Palooza hosted by Anna Meryt. The locals were friendly and it was a fun and uplifting evening, …
sharing poems in the park
So, I've done it. I can update my writing CV to say I was Poet in Residence at Thrive Battersea for the Open Garden Squares Weekend 2016. It's been a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience — both the run up to the weekend, spending time in the Herb Garden and the Old English Garden, sitting, …
poetry in the Old English Garden
It's hard to imagine a more picturesque setting for a poetry reading than the Old English Garden in Battersea Park. Here, on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, I read some of my garden themed poems as part of Thrive's Chelsea Fringe Festival week of events. The weather was kind to me, with warm sunshine breaking through …
thrilled to be Thriving
For the second year in a row, the Poetry School has teamed up with Open Garden Squares Weekend to offer mini residencies in London parks and gardens to emerging poets. Last year, my residency never quite got off the ground, so I'm delighted that this year I've been matched up with Thrive in Battersea Park. …
birdwatching in Battersea
The plane trees outside my window are still bare. But they are visited regularly by a pair of birds I think I have successfully identified as magpies. I've checked both my Michelin I-Spy Birds book and Hamlyn nature guides' Birds. The latter describes the magpie's call as a hard, rapid rattling 'sha-sha-sha-shak'. I've heard this …
Melbourne, Berlin, London, Coventry & Beirut
Poetry can take you to many places. On Wednesday night we travelled to all these cities without leaving the discomfort of the Poetry Café's infamous orange plastic chairs. I was one of four invited readers at South Bank Poetry magazine's First Wednesday event, along with Norbert Hirschhorn, Peter Raynard and Amy McAllister. The time allotted …
Continue reading Melbourne, Berlin, London, Coventry & Beirut
Hilaire 