Now, I'm not an academic, nor an intellectual, but I do enjoy the occasional stimulating if brain-fogging encounter with that side of life. So, as soon as I saw last night's lecture at the British Museum advertised (part of the London Review of Books' Winter Lectures series), I knew I had to go: Cervantes, Balzac …
Category: writing
guantanamo via waterloo
Last Thursday evening, along with a few other hardy souls, we braved the bitter weather to listen to a reading of Poems from Guantanamo at the Calder Bookshop, near Waterloo. The book consists of twenty-two poems, written by detainees in Guanatanmo Bay, most of whom are still held there, uncharged yet with little prospect of …
evolving english
Ventured up to the British Library yesterday, to see the latest of their wonderful (and, amazingly, free) exhibitions, Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices. The exhibition explores the development and spread of the English language, in all its rich variety, covering aspects such as slang and dialect, and how the language has absorbed influences from …
a week in December
A packed week, which started, startlingly and hilariously, with James Naughtie's now infamous slip-up just before 8 o'clock on Monday morning. Then the gratifying announcement that Susan Philipsz had won the Turner Prize (see my post about her installation Surround Me). Also tickled to hear about the campaign Cage Against the Machine, which aims to …
Triptych Poets – Melbourne launch
Thursday 11th November saw the Melbourne launch of Triptych Poets: Issue One, hosted by my fellow Triptych poet Ray Liversidge at Collected Works bookshop. Unfortunately I couldn't quite stretch to a flying visit back home, but some of my family were able to attend. Ray read my poem The Lemon Tree, the Hills Hoist and …
time to write
Tomorrow, officially, is the first day of my six month sabbatical from paid employment. My plan, simply, is to write. To see what I can achieve (unfortunate, work-tainted word) with a period of uninterrupted time. Uninterrupted, except for interruptions I choose, from hourly mugs of coffee, to gazing out the window at the comings and …
The Unfortunates
A few (random, appropriately) thoughts on Radio 3's dramatisation of B.S. Johnson's The Unfortunates, broadcast last night: his searing honesty that wonderful mix of humour and pathos the vividly evoked detail of place and time (the sixties, a Midlands town, British Rail trains, a walk on the Downs...) the relishing of food, of language held …
Triptych Poets – London launch
After much angsting (what should I wear? will anyone come along? will I sell any books?), the London launch of Triptych Poets turned out to be a very enjoyable event. In a dimly-lit below-stairs bar, round the corner from the Friday night madness of Leicester Square, a good group of friends and acquaintances gathered to …
happy national poetry day
On the radio this morning I hear a setting of a Robert Burns poem, My heart's in the Highlands, by Arvo Pärt, for counter-tenor and organ. An unexpected combination - Pärt and Burns - the ascetic Estonian composer and the libertine Scottish bard. But it works. A charming and wistful song, a perfect piece for …
about reading about writing
Working my way through the latest issue of the London Review of Books (I must finish it before the next fortnightly issue arrives, otherwise low-level panic sets in), which is chock full of far too stimulating reviews and articles. When will I find the time to read an actual book? This issue (cover date 23 …
Hilaire 