News
Announcing New Winter Podcasts
Another two new podcasts are now available at The Poetry Channel – the third and fourth in thej series of Robert Seatter’s Aldeburgh Conversations recorded at the Festival in November 2011.
Aldeburgh Conversation: Jane Draycott
Jane Draycott in a packed 8-minute conversation with Robert Seatter at Aldeburgh 2011 touching on how good poetry translators have to be good poets; the lure of collaborative projects; the narrative associative power of the international phonetic alphabet; and how being a teacher means she never stops learning.
Aldeburgh Conversation: Maurice Riordan
Maurice Riordan talks with Robert Seatter about the predicament of being an Irish poet, saying the same prayers as Paul Muldoon, finding his own voice via American poetry, short stories and prose poems, and discovering ‘the music of what happens’.
Look out for more new podcasts arriving on The Poetry Channel very soon
News
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2011 Gallery
The story of the 2011 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in photographs – a pictorial tour through the weekend, all the way from the opening Exhibition launch and the Family Reading featuring the Young Poets Competition winners, through to the final reading on Sunday afternoon.
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival headquarters (former HSBC bank!)
52 events (15 free), twenty-five poets and the best poetry audience (overall attendance a record-breaking 4,692!). Re-live November and look forward to next year’s programme…
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!
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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.
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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.
News
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.
News
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.
News
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.
News
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
News
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)
News
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
News
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
News
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.
News
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
News
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
News
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
News
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
News
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
News
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.