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Time management and marmalade
That was a rejected title for a short story of mine once, but it is now used in our family to describe the impossible circle-squaring of what you really want to do versus what needs to be done this...
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So your poem’s on a shortlist? So what?
“I look at some anthologies and wonder why these poets have been published.” That was the most striking line in Glyn Maxwell’s speech yesterday. He judged the Live Canon International Poetry Prize, and...
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Another day, another shortlist: lying in poetry
There’s nothing to discombobulate you like scrolling down a poetry prize news page to discover you were one of the shortlisted poets. That happened to me today, after I’d congratulated Jo Bell for...
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Editing poems: John Glenday and Don Paterson
There’s a lot of talk about editing prose: a writer can employ a professional editor for a novel before querying an agent, then it may be edited again by their agent before it lands on a publishing...
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Genre bending: poetry, prose or comedy?
“You’re the only writer I know who does all three genres,” Shelley Harris said recently. We batted this around for a bit (after I’d established that she meant poetry, prose and scripts rather than...
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Writing process – blog tour
This post is part of a series on the process of writing. I was asked to join in by Fiona Melrose, whose debut novel Midwinter is receiving the final polish before Fiona and her agent, Jo Unwin, submit...
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The Cardiff International Poetry Competition and me
I’ve sat on this news for a month, but last night I travelled to Cardiff to the prize-giving ceremony for the Cardiff International Poetry Competition. Which I’ve won. I can’t quite believe it yet...
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Summer holidays: not a Ten Point Plan
So, it’s the summer holiday and I am surrounded by children. I only have two, but they seem to circle a lot. I am feeling guilty that I haven’t blogged for ages, since my hurried...
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Michael Longley at Winchester Poetry Festival
Today is the third and final day of the inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival. I wish I could have taken three days out of my life to go to everything, since it was right on my doorstep, but my children...
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Dear Clive
Clive James is ill. We know that. He’s dying. His two most recent books are a collection of literary criticism, Poetry Notebook, and a forthcoming book of poetry with Picador that may well turn out to...
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Josephine Corcoran’s poetry launch: The Misplaced House
Last night I visited the Poetry Café in London for the launch of Josephine Corcoran’s debut poetry pamphlet: The Misplaced House, published by tall-lighthouse. There were the usual babysitting hitches...
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Clive James: Sentenced To Life
Clive James’ poetry collection, Sentenced To Life, is published by Picador on 9 April. I was lucky enough to be passed a bound proof and have been dipping into it for a while now. Dipping, because...
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Loose Muse: poetry, stories and a ukelele
Last night I went to Winchester Discovery Centre for my first Loose Muse event. I’d heard about them from friends who write fiction, but this one centered on poetry. Run by Sue Wrinch, Loose Muse...
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Poetry and politics: Live Canon’s Election Special
Tomorrow, we vote. Today, we have poems. Billy Bragg once sang ‘mixing pop and politics – they ask me what the use is’. The Live Canon Election Special shows that people have been writing about...
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Half-way through being Hampshire Poet 2016
It’s early July. Time to sit down and see what I’ve achieved so far, and wonder where the next six months will take me. I’ve had 15 meetings with all sorts of different people across the county to talk...
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What makes a spellchecker blink?
Last year, before his novel The Maker of Swans was published, Paraic O’Donnell wrote a post about words his spellchecker highlighted. You can read it here, and unless you’ve done that, and then...
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Don’t Ask
After years of writing and months of planning, I have a book! Earlier this week I took an oil painting to be properly photographed for the cover. This painting is by Alan Slater, and has been hanging...
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London launch of Don’t Ask
Yesterday evening I joined a team of Eyewear poets celebrating our Spring book launches in London: US Dhuga, Mariela Griffor, Marion McCready, Kate Noakes, Jason Lee, Dick Witts and me, together with...
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Don’t Ask – reprint
A small post blowing my own trumpet. As the great Prince once wrote: It’s your time (time) You got the horn so why don’t you blow it Let’s not allow the details of brass instrument specifics to come...
View ArticleWatching Narrowly: a poetry reading in Gilbert White’s Barn
Kathryn Bevis recently led a socially-distant poetry reading in Gilbert White’s Barn, as part of the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the naturalist’s birth. She asked two poets to join her:...
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