Wildlife

OCTOBER 2010 Bugged I am looking forward to the Birmingham launch of the Bugged book tomorrow.  The event takes place at the wonderful Ikon Gallery as part of Birmingham Book Festival.  I’ll be reading my Bugged poem and shmoozing about. It also offers me chance to catch up with a friend I just don’t see enough of, and return a book I borrowed aeons ago. Here is the Bugged blurb: ‘Bugged brings together well-known names like Stuart Maconie with new and emerging writers like Jenn Ashworth and Susie Wild. The idea was simple: on a single summer day, writers all over the UK joined in a mass eavesdropping experiment – and wrote from what they heard. The results were funny, touching, sinister or uplifting. This is a brilliant new anthology of the best in British writing.’ You can buy it from CompletelyNovel Hurrah 

OCTOBER 2010 Look Nan, I’m on the telly! Okay, not really. Spill Media made a film of our Swansea book launch though and you can watch it if you like   I think I prefer being behind the camera – cringe cringe cringe! Our Swansea Book Launch

The cast from the new NTW show Love Steal Us From Loneliness Libraries are changing. This week I performed at the first event of this year’s BayLit Festival –  Poems & Pints  in Cardiff Central Library. Yes pints, actual real ale thanks to CAMRA . The crowd didn’t seem any rowdier for it, and the poets didn’t fall over. Also showcasing some symbolic new work was Cardiff poet David E Oprava , from what I heard I reckon the new book is sure to get snapped up by a savvy publisher soon. Poetry has had a leading role in my recent history, not least because it was  National Poetry Day last week. Sophie wrote a rather excellent blog about it here.  I had a splendid day reading poems, writing poems, talking about poetry on the radio , and  performing with Saturday Live’s Susan Richardson  who is always smiling and a pleasure to read with. I also had the chance to chat to  Wales’ National Poet  on the telephone in the name of journalism, and indeed,...

OCTOBER 2010 Feeling Like An Actual Proper Writer Thursday was a good day for me.  National Poetry Day . I cooked and ate a good lunch with a fellow poet. I read some poems in books, and  watched some poetry films online . I wrote some new poems on this year’s theme of home, including my current favourite: ‘Home is where the Marmite is.’ I talked about poetry with  Ian Mcmillan  on  Radio Wales  . I performed some poems with  Saturday Live’s  resident poet  Susan Richardson  in Cake Gallery in Mumbles. People bought copies of The Art of Contraception. Someone gave me a cheque. It was a GOOD day. It has been a GOOD week, in fact. My prose poem ‘Postcard to Seattle’ has been commended in the Leaf Travel Writing & Postcard Competion, and will appear in Issue 3 of the  Leaf Writers’ Magazine . I have even been booked to teach, yes TEACH, a poetry workshop in a couple of months time. I’ve also got a bit more time on my hands than ha...

OCTOBER 2010 The Art of Contraception = Book of the Month Susie at the London BYT Launch (Photo: Rosie Reed Gold) ‘BOOK OF THE MONTH: This is Susie Wild’s first collection of short stories. The title hints at a connection to contraception but some of the stories hold only loose connections, concentrating more on relationships and the obsessive behaviour of the often odd characters. Wild’s stories seem to have their core buried in the small things; those hidden behaviours we all try to keep secret – in the same way that Raymond Carver does. Veering from the purely observational into a strangely unnerving other-worldliness, these stories have at times a Lynchian (or even  Twilight Zone ) quality. Like the story of the pregnant woman at work looking for a sandwich thief while at the same time trying to hide her bizarre cravings. The stories in this collection are all interesting and well constructed [...] this collection actually becomes easier as you get used to her style of writing ...