I've read a lot this year, including around 400 short stories for the Manchester Fiction Prize in the first few months of 2022. As a writer it's often hard for me to switch off the critical/analytical part of my brain when reading, so finding the right book to read in bed before sleep can be …
woman with a red clipboard
A week ago I led the last in a series of ten walks around the Nine Elms area in Battersea. This was part of a programme of free activities for local people funded by Wandsworth Council, with my 'Walks and Talks in Nine Elms' billed as a chance for people to explore the area and …
a poem for Wombat Day 2022
I promised (threatened?) in my post celebrating last year's Wombat Day, to post my wombat poem here this year if it hadn't been accepted for publication by now. So here, in all its earthiness, I present to you: Wombat Scat The wombat is a curious species.Of all the creatures known on earthwombats alone drop cube-shaped …
busy as a Battersea bee
Once upon a time large areas of Battersea were covered in market gardens and lavender fields. The air must have thrummed with bees and other pollinators. Bees feature in the mosaic tiled floors at Battersea Arts Centre, no doubt referring back to these earlier times, but also, like Manchester, an acknowledgement of the role of …
found ~ flow ~ flux launched into the world
It's just over a week since I launched the found text poetry booklet found ~ flow ~ flux into the world. This was the culmination of my project, which was commissioned earlier this year by Wandsworth Council. Held in the same room where I'd run the workshops back in June, the launch was such a …
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and (belatedly) the winner is…
I began writing this post on Thursday 2nd June, but life, specifically Covid*, intervened. Now, very belatedly, here's my account of the Manchester Writing Competition Gala Prize-giving Ceremony... which has the aura of a dream to me. An almost out-of-body experience. And I was only a judge! After months of reading hundreds of stories, rereading …
workflow
Just a few weeks ago I met up with my fellow 2021 Manchester Fiction Prize judges Nicholas Royle and Simon Okotie to decide on the overall winner from our shortlist of six stories. Over the previous months we'd read hundreds of stories, and then gradually whittled our unofficial longlist down to six via email. It's …
making art – and finding poetry – in Nine Elms
When I saw a call-out earlier this year for artists' proposals to make new work in Nine Elms on the theme of 'movement + metamorphosis', I knew I wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I've been following the changing nature of the area around me for years, and here was a chance for …
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that live vibe
What a buzz it was to read to a real live audience last Thursday. Around 16 people attended my reading at Putney Library and it could hardly have gone better. There was applause! There were smiling faces! There was even a Bravo! I split my set into three sections, reading first from Triptych Poets, followed …
a display, a reading, and a little poetry news
Late last year Stephen Graham, with whom I collaborated on the booklet indoors looking out, mentioned he was planning a show of new work at Putney Library, and that there was an empty display case in the library, which he suggested I could use to showcase some of my books and any related visual material. …
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Hilaire 