Local happenings

Yesterday evening Buzzwords got off to a good start for 2016 with a workshop and reading by Josephine Corcoran. I had met Josephine before at Poetry Swindon events but this was my first opportunity to hear her read her work and I thoroughly enjoyed it. She read several poems from her pamphlet "The Misplaced House". Many of them are about memory and forgetting; I found the one that really stood out was "Stephen Lawrence Isn't On The National Curriculum" - an extremely moving poem that will certainly stay with me.

Josephine Corcoran

Buzzwords is run by Angela France, who is now Cheltenham's Poet in Residence. She has a monthly column in the Gloucestershire Echo, our local newspaper, on the third Tuesday of every month and in it she is featuring various Cheltenham poets. Do look out for the column if you have the chance - so far it has featured Alison Brackenbury and Robin Taylor Gilbert, both excellent writers, and Angela has a wealth of talent in the area to choose from - we are blessed with an abundance of interesting, creative poets here.