Berkeley Square Poetry Review

It was wonderful to return to Bristol, where I lived when finishing my first book The Art of Contraception quite a few years back now. I had been invited by Charles and Tim to be the guest feature at the Berkeley Square Poetry Revue at cocktail bar and arts and media hub The Square Club and had planned a tenuously-linked set of Halloween poems – at least I had the Jaws one, and one that mentioned spiders, another blood, and so on – but the audience seemed non-plussed by Halloween so I read the love poems and the house poems and the courgette crisis poems instead.

I was glad I'd only opted for witchy tights rather than a full costume, and for making it in time to also catch the Grayson Perry exhibition at the Arnolfini beforehand, and for the 1:30am train home as the gig finished too late for the 11pm which meant I had to call in to my favourite theatre bar on the way home, the shame.

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PHOTO BLOG: Poetry at the Clocktower

We had a lovely day of poetry outside the Poetry Bookshop in Hay today and it stayed mostly dry too! Here’s me telling the audience some things about Bert (Roberto Pastore). Thanks Sian Lile-Pastore for the photo. And the rest of the photos as promised... Imogen Davies, Richard Davies, Niall Griffiths, Nigel Jarrett and Ifor Thomas took the early spots... (thanks to Christina and Ifor for these photos...) Richard (Parthian) & crowd Niall Griffiths reading Niall Imogen Ifor Thomas reads Nigel Jarrett reads Next up we had readings from Christina Thatcher, Abigail Parry and Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch, followed by readings from Ness Owen, Mari Ellis Dunning, Jemma L. King, Tracey Rhys, Patrick Jones, Roberto Pastore and, drawing the short straw to go last, yours truly. Abigail reads Abigail again Roberto Pastore reads Ness Owen reads Everyone loves Bert Tracey Rhys reads Patrick Jones reads Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch A shot of Christina in red in the crowd Stalls at Hay Castle ...

BOOK REVIEW: 'one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Welsh writing in English'

There is a wonderful extended review essay 'Ecological Literacy' by Steven Lovatt in the latest issue of New Welsh Review exploring recent books that seek to restore natural and cultural ecologies and recognise how the cultural nature of our landscapes is preserved in language. It offers an in-depth look at This Common Uncommon by Rae Howells, and here are three of our favourite snippets: "Rae Howells’ new poetry collection, This Common Uncommon , is a fierce and loving affirmation of the local, exemplifying the sort of care-full attention to the interdependence of people, other animals and plants that will be required if anything worthwhile is to be saved from the present ruin." "Howells confirms the evidence of her first collection, The Language of Bees, that she is a highly adept poet, possessing one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Welsh writing in English." "If West Cross Common is developed for housing, nobody can now claim ignoran...

GIG ALERT: Voicebox Wrexham

Celebrate 11 years... (11 YEARS!) of Voicebox with an absolute class creative cabaret of Wrexham's Arts Scene with the infamous Voicebox Open Mic with your host Natasha Borton! This month we have a very special takeover with Parthian Books. Parthian is an independent publisher based in Cardigan, Wales. Since its foundation in 1993, Parthian has published some of the best-known works of contemporary Welsh literature. Parthian's motto is “A Carnival of Voices in Independent Publishing”. Monday 11th November at Rough Hands Tap, Wrexham Entry is £5 (£3 concessions) Doors: 7pm Open Mic 7:30 - 8:30 Susie Wild - 8:45 - 9:15 Patrick Jones - 9:15 - 9:45 Penblwydd Hapus Voicebox Headliners: Susie Wild is author of the poetry collections Windfalls and Better Houses, the short story collection The Art of Contraception listed for the Edge Hill Prize, and the novella Arrivals. Her work has featured in many publications including Poetry Wales, Ink Sweat & Tears and The Atlanta Review and...

Wildlife

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