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Poetry on the Fourth Floor - London reading in July
Faber and The Poetry Trust present Poetry on the Fourth Floor. This inaugural event, taking place at Faber’s Bloomsbury home, brings together an engaging trio of great British women poets – three of today’s most vital and relevant voices.
Julia Copus was born in London and lives in Somerset. A Gregory Award winner at 24, her debut collection The Shuttered Eye (Bloodaxe 1995) was shortlisted for the Forward Best First Collection Prize. Winner of the National Poetry Competition (2002) and the Forward Best Single Poem (2010), her third collection The World’s Two Smallest Humans (Faber, 2012) was shortlisted for both the Costa Book Awards (poetry section) and for the TS Eliot Prize.
‘Elegiac and buoyant… beautiful, arresting, sympathetic – and hospitable to the reader. Copus has more than one voice and a musical ability to change key.’ Kate Kellaway, Observer
Olivia McCannon was born on Merseyside and lives in London. Her debut collection Exactly My Own Length (Carcanet/Oxford Poets, 2011) was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize and won the 2012 Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. She lived for nine years in France and her translations from French include Balzac’s Old Man Goriot (Penguin Classics, 2011), modern poetry in Poetry of Place: Paris (Eland, 2013) and contemporary plays for the Royal Court Theatre in London. She also writes short fiction, lyrics and libretti.
‘Beautifully crafted poems built carefully from compassion and empathy… in the best possible way this is a self-help book that underlines the role that poetry can play as we try to make sense of our changing lives.’ Ian McMillan, Poetry Review
Jo Shapcott was born and continues to live in London. Twice winner of the National Poetry Competition, she has published seven collections with Faber including Her Book: Poems 1988-1998 which selects from three earlier volumes: Electroplating the Baby (1988) which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, Phrase Book (1992) and My Life Asleep (1998) which won the Forward Poetry Prize. Her most recent collection Of Mutability (2010) won the Costa Book Award and in 2011 she was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.
‘Shapcott’s is a voice that reaches out and grabs. In all her work, she transforms the extraordinary into the immediately plausible.’ Mark Wormald, TLS
For ticket and venue info please click here
News
The Poetry Prom 2013
We are delighted to announce the line-up for this year’s Poetry Prom. David Constantine, Wendy Cope and Kay Ryan will take to the stage at Snape Maltings Concert Hall on Wednesday 21 August for what is certain to be yet another fantastic Poetry Prom.
David Constantine is one of this country’s leading men of letters. An acclaimed fiction writer (BBC National Short Story Award 2010), major translator of European literature, editor and Oxford academic – he remains first and foremost a poet. “Poetry will not teach us to live well, but it will incite in us the wish to”, he says, and his nine collections embrace love, politics, myth and history with imaginative truthfulness and great humanity.
Full, fine, joyous poetry. The Guardian
Wendy Cope belongs to that rarest of breeds – the serious, popular poet. Her technical brilliance, mordant wit and rueful wisdom develop the tradition of Betjeman and Larkin; her best-selling books are so widely cherished because they fuse the funny with the heartfelt. Her writing has a nowhere-to-run, nowhere-to-hide directness which can belie the depth of its satire, compassion and hard-won home truths.
It is worth pointing out that without the heart the jokes would not be so good. The Times
Kay Ryan detests poetry that isn’t clear – “given there’s so much we can’t be clear about” – and says that poems “should add oxygen to the atmosphere, make it easier to breathe.” Recent US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, she made her dazzling UK debut at Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2011. Her deliciously idiosyncratic, humour-fuelled poems illuminate and celebrate our complicated relationship with the world.
Ryan’s are the biggest little poems going. New York Times
Performance suitable for adults and teenagers.
Tickets £15, £12, £10, Prom £6.50
General booking opens Tuesday 21 May
Book your ticket oneline www.aldeburgh.co.uk or by phone 01728 687110
The Poetry Prom Press Release June 2013
News
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2013 Upate
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Update
For the weekend of 8-10 November 2013 we hope you’ll be in Suffolk, joining us for the 25th International Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. This will be our silver anniversary – a quarter of century since the very first Festival which opened with James Fenton reading in the Baptist Chapel and was brought to a close by what’s become Aldeburgh’s ‘signature’ three-hander – featuring Gillian Clarke, Michael Hofmann and Edwin Morgan. The standard was set, you could say.
After last year’s exciting expansion, the Festival returns to the Snape Maltings campus and we’ve got some special events up our sleeve to mark the 25th anniversary. We’ll be unveiling the first Aldeburgh Poetry Commission: an intriguing collaboration between effervescent poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan and Suffolk-based eco-artist Fran Crowe, the results of which will be shared between Snape and Aldeburgh. We’ll also be returning to our atmospheric earliest home in Aldeburgh – the Baptist Chapel – for a series of ‘Chapel Lectures’. More to follow on that soon…
And of course there’ll be an abundance of readings, discussions, craft talks, lectures, performances and workshops – and always lots of opportunities to discover international and UK poets new to you. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.
News
Young Poets Poem Show
Young Poets Poem Show
A brand new Poem Show is now available on The Poetry Channel. Hot on the heels of our recent Young Poets Discussion podcast – which is on its way to becoming our most popular podcast ever clocking up 800 downloads a month – we wanted to continue to shine a light on young poetic talent.
That’s why we asked Leti Mortimer, poetry editor for online magazine Inky Needles and a member of at last year’s event team, to curate a Poem Show featuring three young poets from last year’s Festival – Caleb Klaces, Rebecca Perry and Andrew McMillan.
Download Poem Show 16
Our Facebook and Twitter followers (now topping 7,300!) will have already come across Leti – she’s been responsible for many of our recent status updates and Tweets which have resulted in us shifting a load of Poetry Papers in recent weeks. We’re looking forward to working with her more throughout the year…
In the meantime, check out Inky Needles. It’s an online magazine devoted to Poetry, Politics and Philosophy. Leti is focused on contemporary poetry and on providing a platform for likeminded people to share their work – submissions most welcome!
Here’s more information
News
An Awesome Foursome - London Reading in May
We’re delighted to have been asked by the Bush Theatre in London to curate an event in May as part of their series of evenings celebrating the written and spoken word. Taking place in the Theatre Library, each night is hosted by a different poetry organisation and to kick things off, on Wednesday 8th May at 7.30pm, we’ll be presenting An Awesome Foursome – a quartet of some of today’s most engaging and vital poets, all ‘graduates’ from our Advanced Seminar.
Tickets cost £12 and with just 48 seats available, advance booking will be essential. Call the box office on 020 8743 5050 or book online
Holly Hopkins lives and works in London. She received the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award twice and an Eric Gregory Award in 2011. Formerly she worked at The Poetry Society running the Young Poets Network and was festival blogger for Poetry International at the Southbank Centre. She is currently Assistant Editor at Eyewear Publishing and reading an MA in poetry at Royal Holloway. Her poems have been published in Poetry Review, The Rialto, Magma and The North and widely anthologised – most recently in Dear World & Everyone In It: New Poetry In the UK (Bloodaxe, 2013).
www.hollyhopkins.co.uk
Hannah Lowe was born in Ilford, Essex and has lived in London, Brighton and Santa Cruz, California. She studied American Literature at the University of Sussex and has an MA in Refugee Studies. She has worked as a teacher of literature and creative writing, and is now studying for a PhD. Her pamphlet The Hitcher (The Rialto, 2011) was widely praised and her first book-length collection Chick was published by Bloodaxe earlier this year. A short chapbook Rx is forthcoming with sinewavepeak later in 2013. John Glenday says, ‘Hannah Lowe is a wonderfully evocative and lyrical writer. She handles form with an easy confidence but she is also a refreshingly able storyteller… one of the most exciting new voices in British poetry.’
hannahlowe.org
Helen Mort was born in Sheffield and lives in Derbyshire. Five times a winner of Foyle Young Poets of the Year awards, in 2007 she received an Eric Gregory Award from The Society of Authors, and from 2010-11 she was Poet in Residence at The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. She has published two pamphlets with tall-lighthouse – the shape of every box and a pint for the ghost – and her first full-length collection Division Street is forthcoming from Chatto and Windus.
www.helenmort.com
Katrina Naomi is originally from Margate and lives in south London. Her pamphlet Lunch at the Elephant & Castle won the 2008 Templar Poetry Competition and her first full collection The Girl with the Cactus Handshake was shortlisted for the London New Poetry Award. She was the first writer-in-residence at the Bronte Parsonage Museum and has just been awarded a Gladstone’s Library Residency. She is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths. Michael Laskey says, "Katrina Naomi is not afraid to take risks and knows how to 'tell it slant'. Her wide-ranging poems – whether touching, shocking, entertaining, compassionate or sinister – have a vital freshness."
www.katrinanaomi.co.uk
Book online via The Bush Theatre box office
This is one of three London events we’ll be presenting this year – more details to follow soon…
News
Aldeburgh Eight: The Advanced Seminar
Applications are invited for ALDEBURGH EIGHT which will take place in Suffolk from 1pm on Friday 8th until midday on Friday 15th November 2013.
ALDEBURGH EIGHT is the natural progression of The Poetry Trust’s Advanced Seminar which ran successfully each March from 2007 to 2011. The principle aim remains – to devise a unique opportunity, professional and creative, for eight carefully selected poets early in their publishing careers.
What’s new in 2013 is that seminar participants will begin with an immersive three days at the international Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, immediately followed by an intensive five-day rural retreat led by experienced tutors Michael Laskey and Peter Sansom. A once-in-a-lifetime eight days of accelerated poetry development.
Participants will stay together throughout – during the Festival at Elizabeth Court in Aldeburgh (8-10 November) and then 12 miles inland at Bruisyard Hall, near Saxmundham (11-15 November). The Poetry Trust actively seeks eight poets with a strong publishing track record (magazines, anthologies, individual pamphlet and possibly a first collection), real promise and clear evidence of commitment.
Since 2007, 40 poets have ‘graduated’ from the Advanced Poetry Seminar. Most have gone on to secure significant recognition, with publication of a pamphlet or first collection as well as prize nominations and awards.
All applications must be received by Friday 17 May 2013 and successful applicants will be notified by Friday 31 May 2013
For more information please download a PDF file of the ALDEBURGH EIGHT flyer here.
Booking & Cancellation details here.
It was fantastic to spend time with other poets who are at the same stage as me, people who care as much about poetry as I do.
Hannah Lowe, participant 2011
Picture: Seminar poets at Bruisyard Hall in 2011
News
WANTED: Marketing & Communications Freelancer
We are urgently seeking a dynamic professional with digital flair to take a world-class poetry festival into the next stage of development.
The Poetry Trust has secured three-year Arts Council Lottery funding to expand its flagship annual international Aldeburgh Poetry Festival into Aldeburgh Music’s Snape Maltings campus. This transformational development creates more space for more people across a wider range of venues.
Your key task will be to generate new audiences for the Festival, and also to promote the range of associated activities: The Poetry Paper, The Poetry Channel, the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and The Poetry Prom.
You’ll be a creative thinker with strong strategic planning and effective management and delivery experience, someone capable of inspiring others locally, nationally and globally to get passionate about poetry.
Based in Halesworth, Suffolk this is a freelance contract for circa 45 days in 2013/14 for a fee of £5k plus expenses, annually renewable for two years.
Download the information pack & person specification here.
Application by email or letter, plus CV to:
The Poetry Trust, The Cut, 9 New Cut, Halesworth IP19 8BY
Closing date: Friday 10 May 2013
Interviews: Thursday 16 May 2013
News
Announcing Poem Show 16 - Klaces, McMillan & Perry
A brand new Poem Show is now available on The Poetry Channel featuring Caleb Klaces, Andrew McMillan and Rebecca Perry. Hot on the heels of our recent Young Poets Discussion podcast – which is on its way to becoming our most popular podcast ever clocking up 800 downloads a month – we wanted to continue to shine a light on young poetic talent.
That’s why we asked Leti Mortimer, poetry editor for online magazine Inky Needles and a member of at last year’s event team, to curate a Poem Show featuring three young poets from last year’s Festival – Caleb Klaces, Rebecca Perry and Andrew McMillan.
Our Facebook and Twitter followers (now topping 7,300!) will have already come across Leti – she’s been responsible for many of our recent status updates and Tweets which have resulted in us shifting a load of Poetry Papers in recent weeks. We’re looking forward to working with her more throughout the year…
In the meantime, check out Inky Needles. It’s an online magazine devoted to Poetry, Politics and Philosophy. Leti is focused on contemporary poetry and on providing a platform for likeminded people to share their work – submissions most welcome!
You can play Poem Show 16 in our podcast player below or download it from The Poetry Channel.
News
Sharon Olds wins Pulitzer
16 APRIL 2013 – Congratulations to Sharon Olds who has won the Pulitzer Prize.
This seems like a good moment to listen again to her wonderful conversation with Michael Laskey, which took place in August 2009, shortly before her appearance at The Poetry Prom in Suffolk.
We’ve loaded up the interview into our podcast player below… just press the play button (the arrow in the circle) on the bottom left of the player in the grey border.
News
2013 First Collection Prize Judges Announced
We’re delighted to announce the judges of this year’s Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. Robert Seatter, whose third collection Writing King Kong (Seren) was published in 2011, will Chair – joined by Peter Blegvad, the writer, musician, singer-songwriter, teacher and broadcaster whose most recent album Gonwards was released in 2012, and Maura Dooley whose fourth collection Life Under Water (2008) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.
In addition to the cash award (£2,000), the Aldeburgh prize carries two incalculable benefits for the winner: a fee-paying invitation to read at the following year’s Festival, plus a unique week’s paid protected writing time on the inspirational East Suffolk coast. No other poetry prize makes such a tangible investment in new talent. Entry details are here.
Click here to download a pdf file with full entry details.
Winner of last year’s prize, Olivia McCannon, who’ll be taking her place in the line-up at the 25th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (8–10 November 2013), responded to news of her win with: “I am grateful to the judges for their close reading and comments – a reward in itself. It will be a great privilege and pleasure to read to such a poetry-loving audience next year and to be part of the festival and the community it creates.”
News
Young Poets Poem Show Now Available
A brand new Poem Show is now available on The Poetry Channel. Hot on the heels of our recent Young Poets Discussion podcast – which is on its way to becoming our most popular podcast ever clocking up 800 downloads a month – we wanted to continue to shine a light on young poetic talent.
That’s why we asked Leti Mortimer, poetry editor for online magazine Inky Needles and a member of at last year’s event team, to curate a Poem Show featuring three young poets from last year’s Festival – Caleb Klaces, Rebecca Perry and Andrew McMillan.
Our Facebook and Twitter followers (now topping 7,300!) will have already come across Leti – she’s been responsible for many of our recent status updates and Tweets which have resulted in us shifting a load of Poetry Papers in recent weeks. We’re looking forward to working with her more throughout the year…
In the meantime, check out Inky Needles. It’s an online magazine devoted to Poetry, Politics and Philosophy. Leti is focused on contemporary poetry and on providing a platform for likeminded people to share their work – submissions most welcome!
You can play Poem Show 16 in our podcast player below or download it from The Poetry Channel.
News
Available Now! Klaces, McMillan & Perry on Poem Show 16
A brand new Poem Show is now available on The Poetry Channel featuring Caleb Klaces, Andrew McMillan and Rebecca Perry. Hot on the heels of our recent Young Poets Discussion podcast – which is on its way to becoming our most popular podcast ever clocking up 800 downloads a month – we wanted to continue to shine a light on young poetic talent.
That’s why we asked Leti Mortimer, poetry editor for online magazine Inky Needles and a member of at last year’s event team, to curate a Poem Show featuring three young poets from last year’s Festival – Caleb Klaces, Rebecca Perry and Andrew McMillan.
Our Facebook and Twitter followers (now topping 7,300!) will have already come across Leti – she’s been responsible for many of our recent status updates and Tweets which have resulted in us shifting a load of Poetry Papers in recent weeks. We’re looking forward to working with her more throughout the year…
In the meantime, check out Inky Needles. It’s an online magazine devoted to Poetry, Politics and Philosophy. Leti is focused on contemporary poetry and on providing a platform for likeminded people to share their work – submissions most welcome!
You can play Poem Show 16 in our podcast player below or download it from The Poetry Channel.
News
Young Poets Talk Poetry
Now available on The Poetry Channel – one of our intriguing, independent, behind-the-scenes at the Festival podcasts.
ALDEBURGH: YOUNG POETS DISCUSSION
The inimitable Andrew McMillan conducts a fluent and searching conversation with Rebecca Perry, Caleb Klaces, Warsan Shire about what it means to be a ‘young poet’. They discuss attitudes to language, attention spans, writing on paper or laptops, books versus Kindles, and how growing up with the internet has affected their poems. Download, listen and enjoy!
ALDEBURGH CONVERSATION: JULIA COPUS
Also recently uploaded was one of our brilliant Aldeburgh Conversations – Julia Copus talks to Robert Seatter about her latest collection, the revelation of Sylvia Plath, and how radio plays and poems can both work as ‘theatre of the mind’
So, do click along to The Poetry Channel, poetic fuel for the mind this winter!
News
UEA Spring Literary Festival
This year’s UEA Spring Literary Festival features three poets renowned for their engagement with the natural world.
Michael Symmons Roberts is co-editor with Paul Farley of the prizewinning Edgelands, a radical examination of urban wasteland. His new collection, Drysalter, takes its name from the ancient trade in powdered chemicals and cures and is written as 150 poems of 15 lines.
Tuesday 5 March at 7pm
Ruth Padel’s The Mara Crossing addresses migration, a fundamental aspect of life which compels everything from the humpbacked whale to the human cell. Here she challenges our assumptions about what belonging and connecting might mean.
Tuesday 12 March at 7pm
Kathleen Jamie’s The Overhaul, has just won the Costa Poetry Award and has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize [tba Jan 14th]. In this new work, and her celebrated recent book of essays, Sightlines, she extends her investigation of how we take shape within the world as well as within ourselves.
Monday 18 March at 7pm (Note this date has changed from the previously advertised date of February 12th)
Poetry Passports are great value at £14 and offer entry to all three events, while individual tickets are £7. Outside of Aldeburgh, it’s a rarity to get the chance to hear poets this calibre in the East of England – and these are three of the most fearlessly investigative, engaging and clear-sighted poets of our time. So make your way to UEA if you possibly can.
News
Auction raises £2,800
Bidding closed at midnight last night for Maggi Hambling’s original oil painting – the winning bid was £2,800. We are very thankful to Maggi, a keen supporter of The Poetry Trust, for generously donating this powerful small oil painting – part of her arresting Waves series – to help us raise funds.
Maggi Hambling
Wave Curling (2010)
Oil on board 2010, 15 x 20cm
News
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2012 Gallery
The story of the 2012 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in photographs – a pictorial tour through the weekend, all the way from the opening reception in the Peter Pears Gallery in Aldeburgh to the final Britten Studio reading at Snape Maltings on Sunday afternoon.
Britten Studio, Snape Maltings
54 events (14 free), twenty-five poets and the biggest and most attentive poetry audiences ever. Re-live November and look forward to next year’s programme… (8-10 November 2013)
News
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival is a record breaker
After years of bursting at the seams in Aldeburgh venues, The Poetry Trust upped its game this year when it expanded the Festival to Aldeburgh Music’s prestigious Snape Maltings campus – and it paid off. 4,054 tickets were sold (up 13% on last year) to 54 events hosting 25 poets across nine venues in Aldeburgh and Snape.
The Aldeburgh Poetry Festival has established a reputation as the UK’s pre-eminent annual celebration of national and international contemporary poetry attracting audiences to Suffolk from all over the UK and overseas. Renowned for the depth and creativity of its programme, this year’s Festival was no exception featuring a mix of the familiar and the new. Several events sold out ranging from discussions in small intimate spaces to packed houses in the Britten Studio at Snape seating over 320. Main readings featuring the likes of the popular Jackie Kay, Palestinian Ghassan Zaqtan, Anthony Thwaite (who stood in at 36 hours notice to replace D. Nurkse who was stranded in New York by Hurricane Sandy), South Africa’s leading poet Ingrid de Kok and the phenomenal South Korean writer and poet Ko Un attracted waves of ovation in true festival style.
Four up-and-coming poets all aged under 30 had their chance in the main-stage spotlight, and even younger participants from Suffolk aged 9 to 15 were able to show off their poetic talent. The prizewinners of the Suffolk Young Poets Competition read to an enthusiastic and supportive full house – and were then joined by Jamaican-born Valerie Bloom, well-known all over the world for her mix of English and patois poems.
Naomi Jaffa, Director of The Poetry Trust said: “It’s just beginning to sink in – that after a year of dreaming and planning and a lot of unknowns, the big expansion to Snape has really really worked. I’ve been wonderfully besieged all weekend by people rushing up to say what a fantastic time they’re having. And these are people who’ve been coming to the Festival for years and people who’d come for the first time. Audiences and poets have loved the superb venues and the events being conveniently close and we’re just thrilled to present our world-class programme in such a world-class setting. There’s no doubt that the Festival has just risen to a whole new level. At the same time, I think we’ve managed to preserve the crucial ‘Aldeburgh’ experience – with events starting and finishing each day in town, and a free shuttle bus so that all our poets and the many weekenders staying in Aldeburgh could easily enjoy the best of both worlds. The real magic, though, was the intent listening of such huge audiences to so many incredible poets.”
Suffolk Festival-goer Jeremy Solnick reckons it was “A terrific festival. The best I have been to. I was challenged and enthralled. I laughed, cried and was transported. Brilliant!”
Next year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival takes place 8 – 10 November 2013. And if you couldn’t make this year’s in person, you can still tune in to reports and pictures from poets and audiences, on the Festival blog.
News
Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2012 – Winner announced
The winner of the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2012 – one of the most important and long-established poetry awards in the UK – was announced at the 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on Friday 2 November at 8pm. The recipient of this best first collection prize is Olivia McCannon for Exactly My Own Length published by Carcanet as part of their TheOxfordPoets imprint.
Olivia McCannon responded to news of her win with:
“I am grateful to the judges for their close reading and comments – a reward in itself. It will be a great privilege and pleasure to read to such a poetry-loving audience next year and to be part of the festival and the community it creates.”
On behalf of his fellow judges Esther Morgan and Alicia Stubbersfield, Chair Robert Seatter writes:
“In a very very close field, what we valued in Olivia McCannon’s book was the judged authenticity of her voice. Her collection has a subtle craftsmanship, and her clean and precise language rewards several re-readings revealing new layers of connection and meaning. Exactly My Own Length is surprising without ever being showy, feelingful without overplaying its sentiment, and universal without being predictable.”
Exactly My Own Length contains work spanning ten years. Roughly half of it was written in Paris, where Olivia lived full-time for eight years. French was her language of everyday communication, and as English became more foreign, she found that she was able to write with greater displacement. The second half came into existence during the last year of her mother’s life – “poems to hold onto when everything was slipping away” says Olivia.
Eleanor Crawforth, Editor of Carcanet said:
“The prize, and its accompanying support from the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, is a major landmark in the development of a young poet’s career, and Olivia’s win reflects the continuing success of Carcanet’s Oxford Poets imprint.”
David Constantine, former Editor of Oxford Poets adds:
“By choosing this book, the judges affirm a wider faith in the good of poetry that is rigorous, heartfelt, and rooted in common realities.”
In addition to the cash award (£2,000), the Aldeburgh prize carries two incalculable benefits for the winner. Olivia McCannon will receive a paid invitation to read at next year’s 25th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, plus a unique week’s paid protected writing time on the inspirational East Suffolk coast. No other poetry prize makes such an investment in new talent.
For further information, contact Tina Neill, 01986 835950 or email
Poem from Exactly My Own Length
At the Door
At the door of this house
We need a box in which
To post our troubles as we arrive.
Troubles must not enter this house
Only lightness and smooth cheer
Bunches of gerberas and jokes.
If we’re to keep up the walls of this house
Small things must not be made big
Big things must be made small.
The ticking bomb of this house
Is guarded by a sentry who may shout
To cover his deafness.
We who open the door of this house
Must enter stripped of clocks or watches –
Although you know what time it is.
At the door of this house
We need a box in which
To post our troubles as we leave.
News
LATE PROGRAMME CHANGE
Due to Hurricane Sandy, and despite his very best endeavours, D. Nurkse has been unable to leave New York to reach the UK in time for the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. Until midnight on 31 October he was still expecting to make his flight, but circumstances beyond the control of any of us have conspired to make his trip impossible. He and we couldn’t be more sorry.
In terms of the Aldeburgh programme, we are extraordinarily lucky that Anthony Thwaite and Jane Duran have agreed to step in at such short notice to take on D. Nurkse’s four scheduled events at the Festival. We couldn’t be more grateful.
Anthony Thwaite will read on Saturday evening at 7.15pm (joining Jackie Kay and Ghassan Zaqtan with his translator Fady Joudah) and will be ‘in conversation’ with Christopher Reid on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.
Jane Duran will deliver the Talk on Lorca on Friday at 6pm and the Short Take on Saturday morning at 10am.
Full programme and how to book here
Read more about Anthony Thwaite and Jane Duran
News
Festival Blog Goes Live!
This year, for the first time ever, the Festival has a blogger in residence who will be running our first-ever Festival Blog. We hope festival-goers, poets, and friends who aren’t with us will follow the blog, comment on the posts, and generally enjoy it both during the festival and in months to come.
Katy Evans-Bush, who is both a poet and a blogger herself, will be covering events and the general festival vibe, as well as featuring photographs from festival-goers, and posts by poets and others. We’d love the blog to form a real record of the weekend, in all its ‘drunken variousness’ – so please send your photographs, captions, observations, to Katy.
News
Maggi Hambling Auction
Your opportunity to support the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and get a stunning and valuable painting in the bargain!
Bids are invited for Wave curling – Oil on board (2010), 15 x 20cm. This framed original work has been generously donated by Maggi Hambling to raise funds for The Poetry Trust. All proceeds will support our work and the development of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
For further information and to submit a bid, click here.
News
New Talent at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
New Talent at Aldeburgh
The Festival has a strong commitment to showcasing diverse and interesting emerging poets. This year’s Young Poets Reading (Saturday 3 November, 5.00-6.00pm, Britten Studio) features a quartet all in their twenties, all brimming with passion, technique and an authentic sense of voice. As soon as we read their poems, we wanted to hear them out loud. (Last year’s equivalent slot attracted an audience of almost 200, and this year we’re expecting a similar number at least…)
Caleb Klaces was born in 1983 and won a Gregory Award in 2012. His first pamphlet All Safe All Well (2011) showed an attractive and idiosyncratic intelligence at work. He also edits the collaborative and innovative website likestarlings.com. Caleb will also be delivering one of the Festival’s signature Close Readings – 15-minute free events where a poet looks in detail at a favourite poem – on Saturday 3 November (10.00-10.15am) in The Long Room.
Andrew McMillan was born in 1988 and is already a real poetry activist. His poems are seriously playful and inventive and his pamphlets include Every Salt Advance (2009) and The Moon is a Supporting Player (2011). He’s also an editor of Cake magazine, and will be putting his editorial skills to the test at the Blind Criticism event on Sunday 4 November (1.15-1.45pm) in the Pond Gallery – discussing two anonymous poems with David Wheatley.
Rebecca Perry was born in 1986 and is a graduate from the Aldeburgh Advanced Seminar in 2009, appearing at the Festival’s Masterclass in 2010. Her poems are appealingly intimate and assured and we’re delighted that her first pamphlet Little Armoured won the Poetry Wales Purple Moose Prize and was a PBS pamphlet choice. Rebecca will also be giving a Close Reading on Saturday 3 November (12.30-12.45pm) in The Long Room.
Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer who is based in London. Born in 1988, she uses her work to document narratives of journey and trauma. Her poems are eloquent and both shocking and unflinchingly affirmative. Warsan will also be giving her own 15-minute Short Take on ‘Poetry as a Lifeline’ on Sunday 4 November (3.00-3.15pm) in the Jerwood Kiln Studio.
EARLY SEPTEMBER
the day blows out the last
of summer’s unimportant failures
a bird drops from the sky
looking like a shadow of a tiny parachutist
a man jumps on the bus and asks
if anyone can split a twenty
we’re all skint
a girl shouts into the silence
the laughter rippling down the bus
sounds like paper being squashed
into a wastebin
Andrew McMillan
The Moon is a Supporting Player
(Red Squirrel Press 2011)
News
Winners of the Suffolk Young Poets Competition 2012 announced
595 entries were received for the 2012 Suffolk Young Poets Competition from 28 schools and the judges chose 11 winning poems and 23 highly commended poems. The 11 successful young poets will receive their £20 book token prizes and read their winning poems alongside one of the UK’s favourite poet-performers for children – the irresistible Valerie Bloom – at the 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on Saturday 3 November 2012. Click here to read more about the competition and the winning poems.
News
The Journey Of The Aldeburgh Poetry Festival: The Movie
As you’ll have heard, this is a momentous year for the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival as we prepare to expand to six new venues at the wonderful Snape Maltings campus in just six weeks time. More room to welcome more people at last! To celebrate these exciting plans and to attract new audiences, we’ve been busy making a short film – The Journey of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival – which is now available to view on youtube.
The film introduces the new location and why the Festival just has to expand. It also ‘stars’ our two delivery men (as featured in this year’s programme booklet) plus contributions from poets and audiences.
A big thank you to all those who shared their eloquence on camera about what makes Aldeburgh Poetry Festival so special (and apologies if you didn’t make the final cut).
Editing 50 hours of footage down to under five minutes has been a demanding process but we think it tells the story we want to tell.
Why spend money making a film? Because we thought it’d be the very best way to explain what’s happening with the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival over the next three years.
Please do watch it and then promote/share/tweet the film - http://www.bit.ly/poetryfestivalfilm - to help us spread the word!
News
New three year funding for Aldeburgh First Collection Prize
One of the most influential and established prizes in the UK for a first book of poems – the award will double this year to £2,000 and be re-titled The Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize from 2012 to 2015. Fenton Arts Trust Chair, Stephen Morris, said:
“It‘s a special pleasure to support this prize because Shu-Yao Fenton founded The Fenton Arts Trust in memory of her husband Colin, throughout his life a lover of English literature and of poetry in particular.”
News
The 2012 Poetry Paper Coming Soon
With the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival now just two months away, we’re busy putting together this year’s edition of The Poetry Paper, our Festival ‘newspaper'’ which celebrates our Festival poets (and recent Poetry Prom trio too!). If you’d like to advertise in this year’s issue you’ll need to get in touch now with Tina Neill (our new Marketing & Comms Manager) who will be happy to sort
In case you need reminding of the rare delights of The Poetry Paper, take a look at the online version of last year’s issue. We’re sure you'll have seen them around – we distribute 5,000 copies of each issue between November and March at festivals, other readings series and lots of cultural venues across the UK. And never forget the extraordinary fact that The Poetry Paper remains completely FREE to readers. This is only possible thanks to the income from advertisers and the generosity of poets who donate their words. It’s been said that The Poetry Paper is ‘simply a throughly good read’. We ask simply what other UK publication offers specially-commissioned interviews, articles, new poems and other poetical diversions, all beautifully presented and free to the widest possible poetry audience?!
News
2012 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Programme
We’re delighted to announce that this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival programme is now available: 25 poets from all over the UK and beyond – America, Ireland, South Korea, Palestine, Somalia and South Africa – will travel to Suffolk this autumn (2-4 November) to take part in 55 interconnecting events (13 free).
Particular highlights must include:
• Jackie Kay and Maggi Hambling discuss the female artist
• South Korea’s foremost living writer Ko Un reads at his first UK festival
• actor and producer Greg Wise and Christopher Reid re-live the page-to-screen journey of The Song of Lunch
• John Agard brings his own spin to the language of cricket and poetry in a new ‘mock lecture’, Sun Stops Play
• Michael Rosen and Valerie Bloom investigate Why Children Need Poetry
Other Festival unmissables:
• South Africa’s Ingrid De Kok reading in the UK for the first time
• The Palestinian experience from Ghassan Zaqtan
• One of Ireland’s best-kept literary secrets – ninety year old Leland Bardwell
• Two outstanding East Coast American poets – D. Nurkse and Philip Schultz
• New talent showcase readings for a dazzling range of poets at pamphlet and first collection stage
• Katy Evans-Bush – renowned for her literary blog Baroque in Hackney – as Festival blogger-in-residence
This is a momentous year for the Festival as it expands into superb performance spaces on the Snape Maltings campus (just six miles up the road from Aldeburgh). At last, more room to welcome more people. A detailed site map and an introduction to the six new venues are in this year’s booklet. Read it online here
We really hope to see you in Suffolk this autumn for what’s going to be a very special 24th International Aldeburgh Poetry Festival!
Below: Here’s one of our ‘Word Box’ delivery men – this year’s programme booklet ‘cover star’. You’ll be seeing more of him in our forthcoming short film about the ‘journey’ of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (details of that to follow).
News
2012 First Collection Prize
The deadline for this year’s Aldeburgh First Collection Prize – Friday 27th July – has passed and the usual stack of last minute jiffy bags arrived in The Poetry Office at the end of last week.
We received 79 entries this year - one of which will receive the £1,000 prize plus a week’s paid ‘protected’ writing time and a reading at the following year's Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. Last year’s winner Nancy Gaffield (Tokaido Road from CB Editions) will be heading to Suffolk in November. ‘I never imagined that my book would achieve such recognition’ said Nancy hearing news of her win: ‘Aldeburgh commands so much respect that I could not have wished for a better reception for my work.’
The 2012 judges – Esther Morgan, Robert Seatter (Chair) and Alicia Stubbersfield – will soon receive this year’s entries and must agree their shortlist (of up to five titles) by Friday 14 September. The winner will be announced at the opening main reading of this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, on Friday 2 November. For more details about the prize and a list of previous winners please click here.
News
2012 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Programme
After a hectic few weeks, the Festival programme is about to go to press and should be landing on your doormats in late July (assuming you’re on our mailing list – if you aren’t, join here)
As you’ll have heard, this is a momentous year for the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival as we’ll be expanding to Aldeburgh Music’s superb performance spaces at Snape this November. More room to welcome more people – at last! And we can’t wait to share this year’s exceptional line-up of 25 poets – from America, Ireland, Palestine, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea and all over the UK – featuring in over 50 events. We’ll be detailing lots more about the poets and their Festival events over the coming months – on this website, on our Facebook page, via Twitter and in our STUFF newsletter. And in August look out for the short film we’ve been making – about the journey of the Festival and including a whistlestop tour of the Snape Maltings site.
So do keep clicking back to us – we’ve got lots of pre-Festival tasters lined up! We hope you’ve already got the weekend of 2-4 November marked in your diary and that you’re looking forward as much as we are to a fabulous 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. All will be revealed shortly!
News
May Day Celebration for Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
After a year of great uncertainty, we’re very glad (and relieved) to let you know that we have been awarded significant Grants for the Arts Lottery funding to back the transformational development of the Festival over the next three years. The 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival will definitely go ahead, so you can ink the weekend of 2–4 November 2012 in your diary today.
Now that the Arts Council has endorsed our exciting plans for the Festival’s future, we can share them with you. After a decade of being more or less at capacity, we’ve been given the green light to expand into glorious new venues – Aldeburgh Music’s superb facilities at Snape Maltings.
This year the main readings will take place in the beautiful Britten Studio which seats 340. And the craft talks, close readings, discussions and other events will be spread across several similarly high quality spaces – holding 60 to 125 – on the Snape campus. More room to welcome more people to the Festival. There’ll be a big foyer area just for the bookstall and, at last, a dedicated place for food, drink and conversation: a real Poetry Festival café with views across the Suffolk marshes.
Expanding to Snape is the natural development of our relationship with Aldeburgh Music. Together we’ve already presented nine triumphant Poetry Proms – bringing audiences of 800 for live poetry each summer – and now it’s time for this same partnership to deliver an unrivalled poetry experience each autumn.
Rest assured, the spirit of the Festival and its unique format won’t change. The same programming team is still in charge and we can guarantee the customary fresh line-up of brilliant poets from all over the world. And we’re definitely not abandoning Aldeburgh. Each day will start and finish in our traditional Peter Pears Gallery and James Cable Room venues. We’re sure that most of the audience – and certainly all our Festival poets – will continue to stay in the town. That’s why we’ll be running a free shuttle bus service between Aldeburgh and Snape (a 10-15 minute trip) throughout the weekend. Because we know that part of the Festival magic will always include walks on the shingle, fish and chips on the sea wall, browsing in the Aldeburgh Bookshop.
We’ll certainly keep you in the picture about what’s happening in this momentous year. We’re making a short film to introduce the Snape locations and to explain more about the Festival’s next chapter – available in June via our website and on YouTube. We’re launching a new Festival Friends scheme in the summer – with a range of new benefits on offer. And of course the full Festival programme will be coming your way in August.
Do join us this November for the unmissable Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in its exceptional new setting. The best place for the best words.
News
Aldeburgh First Collection Prize
We’re delighted to announce the judges of this year’s Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. Robert Seatter, whose third collection Writing King Kong (Seren) was recently published, will Chair – joined by Esther Morgan whose third collection Grace (Bloodaxe) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and Alicia Stubbersfield whose fourth collection The Yellow Table (Pindrop Press) will be published later this year.
In addition to the cash award (£1,000), the Aldeburgh prize carries two incalculable benefits for the winner: a fee-paying invitation to read at the following year’s Festival, plus a unique week’s paid protected writing time on the inspirational East Suffolk coast. No other poetry prize makes such a tangible investment in new talent. Entry details are here.
Winner of last year’s prize, Nancy Gaffield, who’ll be taking her place in the line-up at the 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (2–4 November 2012), was astonished at her win last autumn. “For me, Tokaido Road was a book that just had to be written: how it would be received was a complete unknown. I never imagined that it would achieve such recognition. Aldeburgh attracts support from so many distinguished poets and commands so much respect, that I could not have wished for a better reception for my work.”
News
Kay Ryan’s Q & A now available
With April being US Poetry Month, we thought we'd take the opportunity to celebrate Kay Ryan’s appearance at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival last November and share the best of her refreshing Q&A session with Naomi Jaffa.
It’s available now at The Poetry Channel, along with six Festival 2011 podcasts: Robert Seatter’s conversations with Fleur Adcock, Jane Draycott, Maurice Riordan and Chris Wallace-Crabbe, plus new Poem Shows. Here’s some more details in case you need persuading.
Kay Ryan Q & A
Naomi Jaffa asks the questions as recent US Laureate Kay Ryan discusses the uselessness of poetry, the strange way she discovered Emily Dickinson, her love of the edges of poems – ‘If you only like crusts you get rid of the middle of the sandwich’ – and the introduction of a phrase new to most of us: ‘the stink of the lamp’.
Poem Show 12 – Memory & Preservation
Three memorable poems demonstrating the preservative powers of poetry. Maurice Riordan explores how and what we remember in his nostalgic and rueful list poem ‘Gone With The Wind’; followed by Leontia Flynn’s tender and candid ‘My Father’s Language’; and to finish, Christian Campbell passionately memorialising history, wit and friendship in ‘Oregon Elegy’.
Poem Show 13 – Human Relationships
Three inter-generational poems from Aldeburgh 2011 about human relationships. In ‘The Lovers’, 90-year old Fergus Allen shows age is no barrier to recalling the pleasures of the flesh; Emily Berry’s ‘Our Love Could Spoil Dinner’ fuses deadpan tonal control with wonderfully left-field intimacies; and Robert Hass’s ‘Privilege of Being’ beautifully captures the absurdity and the ecstasy of love.
News
The Poetry Paper Issue 8
The 8th edition of The Poetry Paper was launched at the 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and copies are now available. Our best ever issue (we think), it’s a veritable and stylish-as-ever cornucopia of poetry treats. You'll find essays by Robert Hass and Kay Ryan; Alice Oswald talking about Memorial, her new version of Homer’s Iliad; interviews with Helen Dunmore and Jackie Kay; Jane Draycott on her approach to Pearl; Luljeta Lleshanaku’s development as a poet in Albania; new poems by Fleur Adcock, Fergus Allen, Roger McGough and Oliver Reynolds, and lots more. 24 packed pages. And what’s more, it’s FREE (yes, really) and distributed nationally to numerous poetry/literature/arts venues and outlets across the UK, and by mail on request (UK only). Email us to request your copy. Or enjoy it right here, right now in a special flipbook e-read version.
News
Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2011
Nancy Gaffield’s Tokaido Road has won this year’s Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2011. The news was announced by The Poetry Trust’s Director, Naomi Jaffa at the start of the 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on Friday 4 November.
Many congratulations to Nancy – and also to her publisher, Charles Boyle of CB Editions.
Read a poem from Tokaido Road.
In addition to the cash award (£1,000), the Aldeburgh prize carries two incalculable benefits for the winner. Nancy Gaffield will receive a paid invitation to read at next year’s 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, plus a unique week’s paid protected writing time on the inspirational East Suffolk coast. No other poetry prize makes such an investment in new talent.
A year ago, Nancy was still waiting to hear if her book would be published and she was simply astonished at the news of her win:
“For me, Tokaido Road was a book that just had to be written: how it would be received was a complete unknown. I never imagined that it would achieve such recognition. Aldeburgh attracts support from so many distinguished poets and commands so much respect, that I could not have wished for a better reception for my work.”
The book (which was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection) was described by Robert Seatter, one of this year’s three judges, as “a remarkable piece of subtle, sustained and surprising writing. Taking as its starting point a set of period Japanese prints, Nancy reinvents these images as a revelatory journey which feels both fresh and timeless. It’s as if every word must have been written before, but comes new off the page.”
“The poems are strong in atmosphere and realisation, fluid, involving, at home with the uncertain, with human grief, memory, longing, history”, according to fellow judge Penelope Shuttle. “Here, then, is poetry as time machine, providing what Elizabeth Bishop required of poetry – ‘mystery, accuracy, and spontaneity’.”
Charles Boyle, Founding Editor of CB Editions said:
“However good, first collections from small presses are rarely noticed by more than a handful of dedicated readers. Even to be on the shortlist for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize makes a big difference: attention is focused, and the book begins to gain the readership it deserves. The prize deserves the continuing support of everyone – the Arts Council included – interested in widening the audience for new poetry.”
The judges for the 2011 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize were Michael Laskey (Chair), Robert Seatter and Penelope Shuttle. Their 2011 Shortlist comprised:
Rachael Boast Sidereal (Picador)
Tom Duddy The Hiding Place (Arlen House)
Nancy Gaffield Tokaido Road (CB Editions)
Ed Reiss Your Sort (Smith Doorstop)
Jacqueline Saphra The Kitchen of Lovely Contraptions
(Flipped Eye Publishing)
The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, established in 1989, was the first UK award designed to recognise and benefit a poet at first book stage. Supported from 2003 until 2008 by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation (as the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize), it is one of the UK’s oldest and most influential prizes for contemporary poetry. Previous winners include Tiffany Atkinson, Colette Bryce, Christian Campbell, Nick Laird, Esther Morgan, Robin Robertson, Henry Shukman and Susan Wicks.
News
The 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
We’re back and unpacked from the 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. We’d like to thank all the poets and all the audience for making it a very special event this year – absorbing, exhilarating and uplifting. It feels definitely worth the year’'s work.
We hoped you enjoyed the Aldeburgh Experience. Poets always say that it’s the audience that makes the Festival special – phenomenally big and extraordinarily attentive – so thank you if you were among this year’s multitudinous attenders. And if you couldn’t make it this time, the good news is that there will be another Festival next year. We’ll be announcing some exciting plans soon – and the dates for next year. So do keep clicking back to this site and definitely ‘like’ our Facebook page!
News
The 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival is here
We’ve been planning it all year and finally the 23rd International Aldeburgh Poetry Festival is upon us. The town’s shop windows are festooned with poster poems and 25 poets are now gathering in a small seaside town on the Suffok coast from all over the world. 53 events (15 free); 21 sold out or just about to; 3,128 tickets already issued. It’s going to be… quite something!
We hope we’ll see you there – but if you aren’t able to attend (or you’re reading this after the Festival), listen out for our Aldeburgh podcasts on the Poetry Channel. We’ll be posting a whole host of these in the coming days and weeks and one directly from the Festival over the weekend.
We’ll also be announcing the winner of our First Collection Prize on Friday and there’ll be news of that here too.
In the meantime, we’d like to wish everyone a very happy Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
News
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2011 Video Show
We're counting off the days to the 23rd International Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and to whet appetites even further we've put together some tasters of the poets who will be making their way to the Suffolk coast very shortly (click on the poem titles in italics to see these poets in action). For instance...
You won't want to miss Roger McGough at Aldeburgh. He'll be showing the range of his work with a Family Reading, a more adult set in his cabaret event and he'll also be subject to a Q & A from TPT's very own Dean Parkin. Here's Roger delivering the very moving poem A Fine Romance. There really is only one Roger McGough!
News
Invaluable Festival Support
Without the generous support – large and small – of multiple funders, individual friends, local businesses, national organisations and many more, the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival simply wouldn’t be possible. The Poetry Trust is extraordinarily grateful, especially in this difficult year, and with the 23rd Festival fast approaching, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our crucial and generous funders.
You can see who they all are:
Festival Supporters
Corporate Friends
News
Poetry Channel Latest
We’re still basking in the afterglow of August’s successful Poetry Prom with two new podcasts celebrating the event on The Poetry Channel this September.
Now available is a Poem Show Special, featuring three highlights from the night, one each from Helen Dunmore, Jackie Kay and Alice Oswald. You can also hear some audience reaction to the Prom – and what makes it such an exceptional event. And later this month we’ll be posting an Alice Oswald Interview about her new book, Memorial (her ‘’version’ of Homer’s Iliad). Look out for more details in this month’s forthcoming STUFF (our e-newsletter). For the freshest Poetry Trust news delivered to your inbox, sign up for it here.
News
Fabulous Poetry Prom
Yet again, the Poetry Prom demonstrated the power and appeal of hearing brilliant poets read their own poems. Helen Dunmore, Jackie Kay and Alice Oswald were on terrific form on 23rd August and it was a real privilege to present their vividly contrasting styles and voices.
Alice wondered how on earth we get an audience of over 700 to a poetry gig in deepest Suffolk. But for the ninth year in a row that’s exactly what happened – with more than a third of the audience experiencing live poetry in the incredible setting of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall for the very first time. And if proof were needed that most poetry books sell at readings, then look no further than the Poetry Prom: it took the poets quite a while to sign some of the 250 books that were sold.
All three poets kept wonderfully to time – reading for 25 minutes each – and there’s a sample poem from each in our latest Poem Show podcast, available on The Poetry Channel. Helen opened, engaging us all from the start with her stylish confidence, warmth and wisdom. Jackie’s infectious humour and humanity bounced us between laughter and lump in the throat – and back. And for oral and aural poetry at its most potent, Alice treated us to a preview extract from Memorial – her new ‘version’ of Homer’s Iliad – which isn’t due to be published until October (but Faber got advance copies to Snape in time).
A big thank you to our three great British women poets for such a memorable poetry night.
Photographer: Peter Everard Smith
News
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2011 Programme
We’re delighted to announce that this year’s Aldeburgh Festival programme is now available – 25 poets from all over the UK and beyond: Albania, America, Australia, The Bahamas, Ireland, Jordan and New Zealand – coming to Suffolk this autumn (4-6 November) to take part in 52 interconnecting events (14 are free).
We’ll be putting the spotlight on the poets and their events in the coming months on this website and in STUFF (our monthly e-newsletter). For now though, we think you’ll just want to have your own look through the programme – it’s available to download online here or you can always join our mailing list here and we’ll pop one in the post to you.
Austerity measures have inspired Silk Pearce’s design this year. To save paper, production, postage and distribution costs, our programme booklet is shorter and in black and white. And instead of commissioning a new illustrator, we’ve been recycling, using photographs from Peter Everard Smith’s unique Festival archive (Peter’s been our ‘poet catcher’ with a camera since 2003). We think it looks really stylish and certainly there’s been no cut in the quality of the artistic programme.
Though the programme booklet is shorter, you can find more info about the poets this year on this website – if you browse the programme online here, you’ll find a full biog about each poet and a sample poem under their events. Our small (smaller than ever!) dedicated team have worked harder than ever to put together this year’s Festival – we think it will be worth it and we hope that you’ll want to join us in Aldeburgh this autumn.
News
Poetry Paper Advertising 2011
Reserving advertising space in The Poetry Paper 2011
The Poetry Paper is our stylish annual newspaper – interviews, articles and new poems from the poets we’ve brought to Suffolk during the year for the Festival and the Poetry Prom. Copies are free, nationally distributed and snapped up fast. It is also available in full (and free) online - last year's issue can still be seen here. The Poetry Paper is the best way of extending the reach of the Festival and celebrating this year’s team of poets.
Now onto its eighth edition, The Poetry Paper has become an eagerly anticipated annual fixture and advertising space is allocated on a first come, first served basis. For a fourth-year running we have frozen the cost in recognition of the tight budgets many organisations face. Advertising space starts at just £170.
All print advertisers will also receive a web advert - with logo, weblink and up to 50 words of text.
Distribution
Nationally distributed and targeted at poets and creative writers, poetry and literature enthusiasts and arts/contemporary culture audiences. 5,000 free copies will be distributed from November 2011 until March 2011.
Specific outlets include:
• Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2011
• T S Eliot Prize reading, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (1,200 capacity audience in 2010)
• Arts & cultural centres (Southbank Centre, Kings Place, Snape Maltings, Dancehouse, Troubadour etc)
• Other poetry and literature festivals (Cambridge WordFest, The Cúirt, StAnza, UEA Literary Festival etc)
• Arvon Centres; University Creative Writing Departments
• Bookshops & libraries (including Scottish Poetry Library, The Poetry Library)
• Arts editors of all national newspapers
Content
Exclusive interviews with Alice Oswald and Simon Armitage, contributions from 2011 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival poets (including new poems), commissioned articles and some quirky diversions. The Poetry Paper is 28 pages long and a maximum of six pages are allocated for advertising. This is a non-profit-making enterprise, with advertising revenue ploughed straight back into covering most of the design, production and distribution costs.
Next steps...
If you're interested in advertising or would like to be sent a copy of last year's Poetry Paper please contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 01986 835950.
News
The Poetry Prom 2011
We’re delighted to announce that this year The Poetry Prom (Tuesday 23 August at 7.30pm) will feature a unique trio of great British women poets: Helen Dunmore, Jackie Kay and Alice Oswald, and celebrate once again the range and pleasures of the spoken word. The Poetry Prom is part of The Poetry Trust’s ongoing partnership with Aldeburgh Music, and takes place in the beautiful Snape Maltings Concert Hall. It really is a wonderful setting for a poetry reading and we hope to see you there. In the meantime, here’s some more info about this year's Poetry Prom Three:
Helen Dunmore is one of this country’s major literary talents. Best known as a novelist – she won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction – she also writes short stories, children’s books, radio plays and, of course, poetry. Winner of the National Poetry Competition in 2010, she has published eight collections of richly lyrical and humane poems.
In these times, we should be glad of this voice.
The Guardian
Another of our most acclaimed, all-round writers – memoir, short stories, books for children, plays and a first novel which won the Guardian Fiction Prize – Jackie Kay also began with poetry. Her searching explorations of identity and belonging are courageous and often very funny. She has published seven collections and is an irresistibly natural and warm performer.
Kay’s humour and optimism are transcendent.
Sunday Herald
Alice Oswald is a born poet, embracing and extending the canon of English poetry. Innovative and accomplished, she won the T S Eliot Prize in 2002 for the second of her five collections. Her powerful poems demonstrate a love of the oral tradition, a passionate concern for the planet and a deep affinity with the natural world. And her on-stage delivery is mesmerising.
Oswald emerges as an inheritor of some of Britain’s greatest poetic voices, an heir to Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and Geoffrey Hill.
The Times
Performance suitable for adults and teenagers.
Tickets £14, £12, £10, Prom £6
(General booking opens Monday 6 June)
In partnership with
Sponsored by
News
Prom Poet Alice Oswald on The Poetry Channel
To whet the appetite for Alice Oswald's forthcoming Poetry Prom appearance in August, go directly to The Poetry Channel where we’ve just uploaded a podcast of her revelatory 2007 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival interview about ‘Poetry & Landscape’ with former Arvon Director, Ariane Koek.
Director of The Poetry Trust, Naomi Jaffa, recently had to listen (really listen!) to this interview from start to finish for transcription purposes. And she was completely hooked - "It was a marvellous conversation! The kind of Radio 3 or 4 programme you'd have to stay sitting in your car until the end of (if you're interested in Alice's work / her singular approach to writing poetry / our relationships with landscape)." So, do go download!
News
Your Very Own Poetry Channel Listen Again Service
Are there any stand-out poems or talks you remember from previous Aldeburgh Poetry Festivals? We’re currently putting together this summer’s programme for The Poetry Channel and would love to hear which are your favourite poems (or poets) or talks you’ve heard at Aldeburgh over the years.
Armed with your suggestions, we’d like to put together a special 'Aldeburgh Audience' Poem Show or perhaps upload a memorable Craft Talk or Close Reading which you’d really like to hear again. So do please email us and let us know your Festival favourites from the past and we'll see what we can do...
News
Arts Council England Funding Decision
The Poetry Trust has not been awarded NPO status from Arts Council England for the period 2012-15. The Arts Council has been a long term supporter and funder of The Poetry Trust and we’re grateful for its investment to date, for how much it has valued the importance and quality of what we do for contemporary poetry.
This NPO decision is clearly a major blow and disappointment which will take time to digest. However, nothing changes the importance or quality of what we do for today’s poets, for poetry audiences and for poetry itself – all of which comes together with fantastic energy at our internationally acclaimed and hugely well-attended Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (now in its 23rd year).
The Poetry Trust’s board of trustees and core team will now examine how best we can go forwards and whether the organisation has a viable future. There may be other Arts Council funding avenues to explore. There are certainly partnership opportunities to consider. Although it’s too early for specific answers or plans, our first priority will be to look to existing and new funders and friends to make sure that, at very least, the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival can have a future.
Please email if you can support The Poetry Trust in any way.
News
Seminar Success
Another Seminar and another success - eight energised poets left Suffolk on 18 March revitalised and energised after an intensive five days of writing and talking poetry - It has left me with new friends, poets to discover, said Liz Berry, and a head fizzing with ideas.
The eight lucky poets were Liz Berry (30, London), Jamie Coward (38, Sheffield), Ramona Herdman (32, Norwich), Hannah Lowe (34, London), Alex McCrae (31, Washington DC), Fiona Moore (51, London), Jocelyn Page (44, London) and Luke Yates (27, Manchester) and were certainly a talented bunch of poets. We really look forward to reading more of their work in the future and seeing them go onto to publication and no doubt picking up a few awards along the way.
The Poetry Trust has been running this Suffolk ‘retreat/hot-house’ for poets either near, at or just beyond first collection stage at Bruisyard Hall in Suffolk for four years. The course was a great week and both the tutors and participants came away refreshed and enlivened. Let's leave it to two of the participants to say what the week meant to them...
The seminar gave us all a great opportunity to articulate stored anxieties, concern, reflections and wisdom and to think productively about ways forward. It was fantastic to spend time with people who care as much about poetry as I do. Hannah Lowe
I will go away revitalised, with a much more vigorous approach to my practice – sorry! – my writing. What has impressed me most of all is the dedication of the staff and tutors – all of them. They really care about this stuff. Jocelyn Page
News
Andrew Motion’s First Stage Play
The Poetry Trust is delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with the HighTide Festival Theatre this year. We’re proud to be co-producing Andrew Motion’s first stage play – Incoming – which will be previewed at the 5th HighTide Festival in Halesworth (7/8 May) and then performed in the Theatre Tent at Latitude Festival in Suffolk (15–17 July) and at the 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (4–6 November).
Andrew Motion has chosen to make his debut as a playwright with a controversial work about the war in Afghanistan. Incoming tells the story of Danny, a soldier killed in Afghanistan, his grieving widow Steph and their young son Jack. The play examines Britain's place in the world, the sacrifices made for that place and the repercussions, both private and public, of those sacrifices. It promises to be a first play of true wisdom and sensitivity.
HighTide Festival specialises in the discovery, development and performances of new plays by highly talented new dramatists. The range of plays is always stimulating, with individual productions often outstanding and clearly destined for great things. HighTide Festival happens at The Cut Arts Centre (home of The Poetry Trust) and makes imaginative and brilliant use of the building’s atmosphere and different performance spaces. If you like quality contemporary theatre and would like to experience another of Suffolk’s world-class cultural treasures, book now for this year’s programme. It’ll be brilliant!
News
The Poetry Channel - Conversation & Mass Workshop
Another two podcasts have been added to The Poetry Channel to put a spring in your step in March:
Aldeburgh’s Open Workshop
What has 800 fingers, 160 feet and 80 heads sprouting fresh ideas and new poems? It’s the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival’s ever-popular mass writing workshop, annually led by Michael Laskey and Jeni Smith. Nick Patrick investigates its collective writing energy and appeal…
Aldeburgh Conversation 2010: Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker in conversation with Robert Seatter, discussing her wide range of influences – everything from the lullabies sung by her grandmother, Glaswegian swear words and the importance of the image to her writing.
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Poetry Foundation monthly Poetry Lecture
The Poetry Trust has teamed up with Poetry Foundation (Chicago). Throughout November the leading US organisation for poetry is featuring our Seamus Heaney podcast (recorded at this summer's Poetry Prom) as their monthly Poetry Lecture. They've created a great new programme - with Christian Wiman (editor of Poetry) talking about Heaney's poetry and incoporating the Poetry Prom's unique conversation between Heaney and Michael Laskey, co-founder of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
Listen here.
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An exhilarating weekend of words
According to Mandy Coe: "The three days of the festival are but the visible part of this event. The team's accumulated years of experience shine, not just through their professionalism and excellent planning but in enabling something much more rare to happen: everyone - performers, audience, children and seniors alike - are valued and equal participants... creators! All my writing life I have heard the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival spoken of with awe; now I know why."
Here's a chance to explore or re-visit some of the pleasures of the weekend.
The Guardian Books blog announces Christian Campbell as the winner of the 2010 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for Running the Dusk (Peepal Tree), with judge Jo Shapcott praising his "bravura performance". Whilst last year's winner JO Morgan read in the Jubilee Hall (and copies of his Natural Mechanical sold out immediately) alongside Matthew Caley and Don Paterson in an exceptional three-handed reading that sets the standard for the weekend.
Acclaimed travel-writer Hugh Thomson, blogs the Festival weekend with thoughts on everything - from Stanley Kunitz's principle that "poetry should exploit the lyric tension of the fact that we are both living and dying at the same time" to which Aldeburgh poet boasts the best hair. And catch some 'fringe' blogs from young artist Rosie Kirton and poetry publisher Charles Christian at Ink, Sweat & Tears
Following his talk on The Poetry Archive, Andrew Motion buys our Poetry Channel producer Nick Patrick a pint and shares his thoughts on "not wanting to live in a country of dark theatres & closed libraries with no literature festivals." Eavesdrop on their open and engaging conversation live from The Mill Inn, Aldeburgh, now on The Poetry Channel.
Swedish writer and Nobel Prize nominee Lars Gustafsson describes Aldeburgh as "one of the finest quality festivals of Europe" before making a swift exit from his conversation with Bernard Kops about 'The Subversive Poet' - following 'lively exchanges' - and heads straight to London to discuss this hot Festival topic on Radio 4's Start the Week. Listen again
Finally, enjoy the Festival photo gallery and listen to our Aldeburgh Takeaway podcast in which Imtiaz Dharker, Inua Ellams, Mandy Coe and others share their thoughts on what they'll 'take away' from their first Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
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The Festival in pictures
A journey through the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in pictures. Enjoy portraits and group shots from the Festival launch through to the final Sunday reading from Festival photographer Peter Everard Smith.
Click for: Festival Gallery
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Aldeburgh Poet Lars Gustafsson
Aldeburgh poet Lars Gustafsson was on Start the Week on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 8 November, talking to Andrew Marr and guests about his Aldeburgh Poetry Festival discussion - 'The writers responsibility to challenge the establishment'. Anyone who caught the event at Aldeburgh will know what a deeply perceptive & reflective man Lars is - if you missed it do 'listen again'. You can also hear Lars in coversation with Robert Seatter, Head of BBC History in a new podcast on our Poetry Channel.
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How was it for you?
If you made it to the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, while it's fresh in your mind, we'd be enormously grateful if you'd make time to complete our online Festival survey. Your feedback and ideas will help inform plans to develop the Festival and The Poetry Trust's year-round programme. In the current climate of arts funding cuts and an uncertain future, we need more than ever to understand what our audiences value and where we can make improvements.
To complete the survey please click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QG9P88T
All survey respondents will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win a signed copy of Carol Ann Duffy's new pamphlet - The Twelve Poems of Christmas (Volume Two) from the small and stylish independent publisher Candlestick Press.
Please do share your thoughts - it's the best way for us to understand the Festival from the audience perspective and go on developing the programme and the quality of the experience.
Thank you!
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Hot off the press
Featuring exclusive interviews with Seamus Heaney & Don Paterson, Bill Manhire on how to keep writing, an introduction to Marie Howe - plus new poems from Jack Underwood, Caroline Bird, Toon Tellegen and more. The Poetry Paper is back and it's the best yet. Aldeburgh Poetry Festival audience members were the first to get their hands on this perfectly packaged triumph of content and style. And if you couldn't make it to the Festival, for the first time you can enjoy The Poetry Paper online through an interactive flipbook. The not-for-profit Poetry Paper is made possible because of advertising revenue generated from the literature/arts sector. The Poetry Trust would like to thank these organisations for their support.
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The 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
We're settling back into the office after an absorbing and exhilarating Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. And we'd like to say a big thank you to all the poets and the Aldeburgh audience for making the 2010 Festival rather special.
We've already started work on bringing you some of the highlights of the weekend. Three new podcasts are available on The Poetry Channel. Relive the Festival Launch with poems from Mandy Coe, Bill Manhire, Marie Howe, Harry Clifton & Dorianne Laux. Enjoy celebrated Swedish writer Lars Gustafsson talking to Head of BBC History (and TPT board member) Robert Seatter. And don't miss Andrew Motion live from the Mill Inn, Aldeburgh sharing a pint with BBC producer Nick Patrick. Gustafsson also appeared on Radio 4's Start the Week on Monday 8th November talking to Andrew Marr about his Festival topic 'The Subversive Poet'. Anyone who caught the event at Aldeburgh will know what a deeply perceptive & reflective man Lars is, do 'listen again' if you missed it.
Look out for more Aldeburgh 2010 podcasts in the coming weeks - behind the scenes interviews and discussions with Festival poets, Poem Shows and the best bits from this year's programme and the Aldeburgh Experience.
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The Guardian Books blog comments on Aldeburgh First Collection Prize winner
Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2010 - Winner announced
The winner of the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2010 - one of the most important and established poetry awards in the UK - was announced at the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on Friday 5 November at 8pm. The recipient of this best first collection prize is the young Caribbean poet Christian Campbell for Running the Dusk (Peepal Tree Press). The Guardian Books Blog comments on the announcement.
Judge Jo Shapcott praised the collection as a "bravura performance" describing Campbell's poems as "energetic, fluid and musical and full of loss, hope and imagination." The book, which was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, was described by fellow judge Neil Rollinson as "the clear stand out among all the volumes I read."
Campbell responded to news of his win with:
"Let's just say that I'm 'feeling good' in the Nina Simone way! I'm honoured to be a part of a moment of great energy and transformation in contemporary poetry in the UK. It's very, very difficult for any young poet, and for any Caribbean poet, to get this level of recognition."
Jeremy Poynting, Founding Editor of Peepal Tree Press said:
"Christian is a hugely talented poet; his patience in waiting until he had a collection he was really comfortable with is a model for all young poets. We always felt confident Running the Dusk would be recognised for its outstanding qualities - its wit and its warmth."
In addition to a £3,000 cheque, Christian Campbell receives an invitation to read at next year's 23rd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival (4-6 November 2011), plus a week's protected writing time on the inspirational East Suffolk coast.
Further information, contact: Alice Kent, 01986 835950 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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Read Hugh Thomson’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival blog
We're delighted that the award-winning travel writer and contemporary poetry enthusiast Hugh Thomson was our official blogger in residence throughout the Festival weekend, in partnership with Writers' Centre Norwich. According to the New York Times ‘Everywhere Thomson goes, he finds good stories to tell.' So do read his on Aldeburgh and if you made it to the Festival please share your own thoughts and reviews on his blog (anyone can comment and you don't need to register). Blog site: www.thewhiterock.co.uk
Hugh's electric blue Oldsmobile 98 - unfortunately not in Aldeburgh
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22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival –
This coming weekend 23 writers from eight countries will descend on the inspirational seaside town of Aldeburgh for the ultimate poetry weekend. Several events have sold out and many more are booking up fast - so please do book asap to avoid disappointment. It would be lovely to see you in Aldeburgh for an unforgettable weekend promising the very best in international contemporary poetry. Alongside top UK poets (including Don Paterson and Andrew Motion) Aldeburgh is renowned for welcoming celebrated international talent and exceptional newcomers:
Rising star Inua Ellmans
5.45 - 7.00pm, Untitled, Sat 6 November, Jubilee Hall
Described by The Times as ‘London's hottest new spoken word talent', Inua Ellams brings his new one-man show to Aldeburgh. The magical realist story - set in Nigeria and England - tells of two identical twin boys separated at infancy and what happens when one child is left unnamed. Following a sell-out performance last week at the Bristol Old Vic, one reviewer wrote: ‘Ellams restored my faith in the power of theatre, this is high-drama and dramatic dialogue, that transports the audience.' Ellams debut show The 14th Tale won a 2009 Edinburgh Fringe First Award.
Lars Gustafsson - one of Sweden's most critically acclaimed writers
appearing at Aldeburgh with his translator John Irons
Discussion, 9am Sat 6th Nov
Exchange, 11am, Sun 7th Nov
Reading, 3.15pm, Sun 7th Nov
According to The New York Times the poet, philosopher and best-selling author Lars Gustafsson has ‘an uncompromising vision of the utter complexity of modern life'. His novel The Death of a Beekeeper won international acclaim for its lyrical beauty and profundity. Expect nothing less from his poetry, which effortlessly navigates between the dream world of the unconscious and the very fabric of reality. Don't miss this rare UK appearance from one of the finest Scandinavian writers of our time (and he's not even a crime writer!)
Toon Tellegen
Reading, 4pm, Sat 6th Nov
Considered one of Holland's greatest poets, Tellegen is also an internationally famous children's author and a practicing GP in Amsterdam. According to The Manhattan Review his poems move with ‘fairytale speed' and cover great distances as ‘entire novels are encompassed in a single poem'. In his books for children, anthropomorphic grasshoppers pay a fortune for a speck of dust and lonely moles write letters to themselves. Likewise his poetry, with a characteristic lightness of touch, questions how best to live.
Workshops - world-class writers offer a creative burst
Places are being snapped up for our programme of Pre-Festival workshops with some already sold-out. There are still a few places left for;
Harry Clifton's Writing in Context - join the recently appointed Ireland Professor of Poetry 2010 for a masterclass based around your own poems. An extraordinarily good opportunity for creative development.
Matthew Caley's Adventures with Text - offering fresh perspectives for experienced writers looking to try something new and beginners looking for innovative ways to move forward.
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Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2010
From a record 95 entries, the shortlist for the 2010 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize - one of the most influential and established poetry prizes in the UK - highlights six distinctive new voices as the ‘ones-to-watch' amongst the next generation of UK poets./p>
The Poetry Trust announced the shortlist today:
Christian Campbell Running the Dusk(Peepal Tree Press)
Robert Dickinson Micrographia (Waterloo Press)
Sheila Hillier A Quechua Confession Manual (Cinnamon Press)
Katharine Towers The Floating Man (Picador Poetry)
Sam Willetts New Light for the Old Dark (Cape Poetry)
Tony Williams The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street (Salt Publishing)
Both Christian Campbell and Sam Willetts are also shortlisted for the Forward Best First Collection Prize (to be announced on Wednesday 6 October 2010).
The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize is valuable not just for its cash prize of £3,000, but also for the emphasis on identifying and developing talent. The winner receives a week of 'protected' writing time on the inspirational Suffolk coast and - most crucially - a fee-paying invitation to read at the 2011 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. This year's winner will be announced at the start of the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on Friday 5 November 2010.
One of this year's three poet/judges, Neil Rollinson, is refreshingly candid about the short-listing process: "There's an awful lot of bad poetry being written, and published. It's disappointing but it's true. Most of the books I read were either derivative, solipsistic or lacking either freshness or ambition. There were, however, a few splendid books which were a joy to read and which I'd be happy to recommend to anyone. As it happens, all three judges were in agreement about these books. Beautifully crafted and highly original, any one of our shortlist would make a good winning collection."
The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, established in 1989, was the first major award designed to recognise and benefit a poet at first book stage. Supported from 2003 until 2008 by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation (as the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize), it is one of the UK's oldest and most influential prizes for contemporary poetry.
The three-poet judging panel for the 2010 Prize comprises Michael Laskey (Chair), Neil Rollinson and Jo Shapcott.
The winner of the 2010 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize will be announced on Friday 5 November at the main opening reading of the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, 5-7November. This reading features Matthew Caley, Don Paterson and last year's Aldeburgh First Collection Prize winner, J O Morgan. The new winner receives a cash prize of £3,000, a week's 'protected' writing time on the Suffolk coast, and a fee-paying invitation to read at the 2011 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
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New Seamus Heaney podcast
Over 800 people relished an evening in the extraordinarily good company of Seamus Heaney at the 2010 Poetry Prom. Tickets sold out astonishingly fast and the queue started at 7am for the 20 ‘on the day' remaining seats.
Heaney's humanity, gentleness and wit shone during the first-half conversation with fellow-poet and Aldeburgh Poetry Festival co-founder Michael Laskey. The pair achieved the remarkable feat of creating an intimate experience for the packed and massive audience. And for the 8th successive year, the power and relevance of live poetry in the stunning Snape Maltings Concert Hall was abundantly clear. You can enjoy highlights of the conversation now in a new 15 minute podcast on The Poetry Channel
In the second half Heaney read poems from his brand new Faber collection Human Chain, plus a memorable selection of ‘favourites' from his outstanding body of work. Following the reading, audience members queuing for the book signing spoke of the ‘privilege' and ‘sense of occasion' of this ‘magical' evening. Enjoy a podcast featuring Heaney reading a selection of new poems also on The Poetry Channel
A selction of photos from the evening can be seen in our online gallery
The Poetry Prom is a partnership between The Poetry Trust and Aldeburgh Music
Sponsored by Fairweather Stephenson & Co
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Become a ‘Corporate Friend’ of The Poetry Trust
Each year Corporate Friends of The Poetry Trust are invited to celebrate the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival launch at a drinks reception and Exhibition Preview in Aldeburgh on the eve of the Festival weekend. All Corporate Friends are also prominently acknowledged and thanked on print material and on The Poetry Trust website (with a year-round web link). The cost of annual subscription is just £55, Corporate Friends make a real difference to ensuring the success of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and the Trust's year round programme of activity. To enquire about our Corporate Friends scheme contact Katie Burroughs on 01986 835950 or at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival - programme announced
Described by Tom Paulin as ‘the best poetry festival - indeed literary - festival' he's ever been to the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival is renowned for the quality and independence of its programming.
This year the Festival welcomes writers - established and new voices - from America, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sweden and the UK to the inspirational east Suffolk coast.
Former UK Poet Laureate Andrew Motion shares the poems he can't live without; Queen's Gold Medalist Don Paterson offers a fresh interpretation of Robert Frost; Elaine Feinstein confides in her relationship with The Beats; and Bernard Kops tackles the writer's responsibility to be subversive. Plus plenty of international perspectives - from New Zealand's inaugural poet laureate Bill Manhire, Sweden's critically-acclaimed Lars Gustafsson, Holland's enigmatic Toon Tellegen, and two scintillating Americans making UK debuts, Marie Howe and Dorianne Laux. The award-winning travel writer, documentary film-maker and contemporary poetry enthusiast Hugh Thomson will blog the Festival weekend.
Further Festival highlights:
- The much-travelled Harry Clifton, newly appointed Ireland Professor of Poetry, discusses the concept of ‘home' with Hugh Thomson
- Selima Hill and Bill Manhire debate whether sadness is a more natural and even, sometimes, a more pleasurable subject for poetry
- New talent showcase: Caroline Bird, Luke Kennard and Jack Underwood
- Inua Ellams performs his potent new magic realism one-man show, Untitled
- Late-night razor-sharp stand-up poetry from Radio 4's Saturday Live Elvis McGonagall
Full Festival programme and booking
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Aldeburgh First Collection Prize
Judges Michael Laskey (Chair), Jo Shapcott and Neil Rollinson have a tough job on their hands following a record 95 entries to the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. The Poetry Trust is delighted with the calibre and number and a stunning shortlist announcement is expected on National Poetry Day 7 October 2010. The winner will be announced at the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, 5 - 7 November 2010.
Established in 1989, this is one of the most important and long-established poetry prizes in the UK, and the only one to offer a cash prize as well as meaningful professional development. The winner receives £3,000, plus a week's ‘protected' writing time and a fee-paying invitation to read at the following year's Aldeburgh Poetry Festival - a unique opportunity to reach Britain's largest and most appreciative poetry audience. Over the years the prize has helped launch the careers of poets such as Robin Robertson, Nick Laird and Colette Bryce.
The shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 28 September 2010
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Advertise in The Poetry Paper
Reserving advertising space in The Poetry Paper 2010
The Poetry Paper is a free, highly-acclaimed and comprehensively well-distributed annual publication. Advertising space is allocated on a first come, first served basis and for a third-year running rates are frozen in recognition of the tight budgets many organisations face. Advertising space starts at just £170.
In Print & Online This year, for the fist time The Poetry Paper will also be fully available (and free) online. All print advertisers will also receive a web advert - with logo, weblink and up to 50 words of text.
Distribution Nationally distributed and targeted at poets and creative writers, poetry and literature enthusiasts and arts/contemporary culture audiences. 10,000 copies will be distributed from November 2010 until summer 2011. Specific outlets include:
• Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2010 (3,500 tickets issued in 2009)
• T S Eliot Prize reading, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (1,200 capacity audience in 2009)
• Arts & cultural centres (Southbank Centre, Kings Place, Hampstead Theatre, Snape Maltings, Dancehouse, Troubadour etc)
• Other poetry and literature festivals (Bath, Cambridge WordFest, The Cúirt, StAnza, Ways with Words, UEA Literary Festival etc)
• Arvon Centres; University Creative Writing Departments
• Bookshops & libraries (including Scottish Poetry Library, The Poetry Library)
• Arts editors of all national newspapers
Content Exclusive interview with Seamus Heaney, contributions from 2010 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival poets (including new poems), commissioned articles and some quirky diversions. The Poetry Paper is 28 pages long and a maximum of eight pages are allocated for advertising. This is a non-profit-making enterprise, with advertising revenue ploughed straight back into covering most of the design, production and distribution costs.
Next steps... If you're interested in advertising or would like to be sent a copy of last year's Poetry Paper contact:.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 01986 835950.
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Over 100 haiku sent to Wimbledon Poet
Wimbledon Championships Poet - Matt Harvey - celebrated the longest recorded tennis match in the shortest poetic form and invited others to do the same. Matt received over 100 haiku following the match between Isner and Mahut. We've included some of our favourites below. To enjoy the rest follow Matt on twitter @wimbledonpoet
You can also enjoy Matt's daily poems (audio & text) at:
The Poetry Trust and Official Wimbledon website
Haiku........
high performance play
all day and still no climax
it's tantric tennis
Matt Harvey
stuck in the day's heat
with the same noisy stranger
summer in London
Isner and Mahut
two tremendous warriors
only one pee break
giant of a man
wins a giant of a match
against giant homme
sun sets yet again
scoreboard breaks, keep score on skin
run out of flesh fast
a winner prevails today
stellar play by two
a racquet, a court, a dream
two Men, one on one
hot grass in the summer sun
night falls in Paris
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Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2010
The prestigious Aldeburgh First Collection Prize is now open for entries. Established in 1989, this is one of the most important and long-established poetry prizes in the UK, and the only one to offer a cash prize as well as significant professional development. The winner receives £3,000, plus a week's ‘protected' writing time and a fee-paying invitation to read at the 2011 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival - a unique opportunity to reach Britain's largest and most appreciative poetry audience. Over the years the prize has helped launch the careers of poets such as Robin Robertson, Nick Laird and Colette Bryce. The closing date for entries is 31 July 2010. Full competition details
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Suffolk Young Poets Competition
Together with media sponsor the East Anglian Daily Times, The Poetry Trust has launched its 22nd Suffolk Young Poets Competition. This is one of the largest regional competitions championing young writing talent: over 20,000 four to eighteen years olds have taken part since it began in 1989. The Poetry Trust invites young people (living or at school in Suffolk) to send us their best poems by 31 July 2010. Poems can be on any theme and the judges will be looking for poems with individuality and linguistic fizz on topics that really matter to the young writers. Winning poets will be invited to read their poems alongside the wonderful Mandy Coe at the Family Reading at the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2010. The deadline for entries is 31 July 2010
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Buy Wimbledon Poet’s first collection
Wimbledon has for the first time appointed a 'Championships Poet' in partnership with The Poetry Trust. The announcement made on Centre Court generated a great deal of media interest with coverage as far and wide as the United States, India, Canada and Taiwan!
The only Matt Harvey collection currently available is published by The Poetry Trust and demand has increased exponentially as Matt's whimsical, perceptive and above all funny poems have been appreciated by an enormous national and international audience.
This beautifully produced book with special illustrations by David Hughes is the perfect poetry present, gathering together the best of Matt's poems for the first time.
The Hole in the Sum of My Parts
by Matt Harvey
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Wimbledon announces first Championships Poet
Wimbledon announces first Championships Poet
Wimbledon, in collaboration with The Poetry Trust, has for the first time appointed a ‘Championships Poet' to capture the flavour and fervour of the world's leading tennis tournament.
Matt Harvey regularly entertains Radio 4 Saturday Live listeners with his perceptive, whimsical and above all funny poems. He's also a lifelong tennis fan. As Championships Poet 2010, Matt will create a poem-a-day on all things Wimbledon: from umpires and racket stringers to the ball boys and ball girls; from the grass and its bounce to rain and the roof. Strawberries and cream, of course, and all the unfolding drama of the matches and players.
All Matt's poems will be viewable online and there'll be audio podcasts - featuring Matt reading his latest verses and sharing behind-the-scene observations - via the Wimbledon and Poetry Trust websites. Enjoy the first podcast now as Matt explores Wimbledon, shares his excitement and reads his ‘Grandest of Slams' poem for the first time.
As Championships Poet 2010, Matt will be keeping a blog and interacting with tennis fans at home and abroad via twitter. During the tournament Matt will also give impromptu live performances to the famous Wimbledon queue as they wait to enter the Club's grounds.
Naomi Jaffa Director of The Poetry Trust comments: "We couldn't be more thrilled and excited - for Matt, who's a poet we're so proud to champion, and for the tennis-loving millions around the world who'll be surprised and delighted (we hope!) by some truly ace poems."
Take a tour of Wimbledon with Matt Harvey
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New on The Poetry Channel
In a deeply rewarding and informative new podcast, prominent South African poet Antjie Krog condenses 100 years of South African history and the poetic tradition of Afrikaans into an extraordinary 15-minute snapshot. Using illustrative poems (her own and others) she explores the origins of Afrikaans, from its adoption as the language of slaves through to its use as the ‘language of violence and separation' under apartheid, to its reclamation by those who were oppressed. She ends with a powerful reading of the poem read by Nelson Mandela at his inauguration, ‘The Child Who Was Shot Dead By Soldiers At Nyangal'.
The podcast is an edited version of a talk given by Antjie Krog at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. For non-football fans it will offer 15 minutes (we're sorry it's not 90!) of welcome relief over the next month. And for those already happily focused on South Africa, it provides the perfect historical and linguistic context and illustrates just why this World Cup is so special.