Wednesday 26 April 2017

Poets on page, stage and screen


It's been poetry right, left and centre this week, starting with a friend lending me the wonderful "Beginning With Your Last Breath", the debut poetry collection by Roy McFarlane. We are hugely delighted that Roy - one time Birmingham Poet Laureate and poet in residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - has agree to be a judge for the Gloucestershire Writers' Network competition this year. The theme of the competition is "Who do we think we are?" and, as this collection of Roy's is an exploration of identity, I don't think we could have had a more appropriate person taking up the challenge.

Then, at Writers in the Brewery, Dominic James was the guest speaker. He read from "Pilgrim Station", his tremendously diverse collection which has poems on subjects as varied as deserters in the Middle East to Granny in her coffin ("She's much improved"!). It was a thoroughly enjoyable reading and fascinating to hear of his development as a poet. He spoke particularly of the importance of mentors and the value of a supportive group in which to work; reflecting on this later, I was very aware of how blessed I have been on both of those counts, having had tremendous encouragement and guidance from two excellent mentors (Rona Lacock and Jennie Farley) and much constructive criticism from my Catchword and Picaresque colleagues.

Dominic James

Finally this afternoon a group of us went to the Roses in Tewkesbury to see the Terence Davis film "A Quiet Passion". If you haven't seen it - do try to do so. The photography is terrific and the characters so well portrayed. I have long been an admirer of Emily Dickinson's poetry and will be reading some with the Cheltenham Poetry Festival Players at the Playhouse on May 8th. It's not an easy film to watch but I wouldn't have missed it. It's very true to the details of her life and death and the voice-over use of her poems is very effective - the final scene, to "Because I could not stop for death", being especially moving. I can thoroughly recommend a visit to see it.

Sunday 16 April 2017

Festival ahoy!

We're gearing up here in Cheltenham for the Poetry Festival, now only a couple of weeks away. And the advertising certainly isn't exaggerating when it says that this year's Festival is the "most diverse and exciting we've yet produced"! There are special student offers on selected sessions and workshop offers too; the workshops (this year to be run by John Hegley, David Clarke, Michael Scott and Ben Parker) are always a popular feature of the festival and are usually oversubscribed. Do look at the website to see what an amazing breadth of poetry is on offer and join us if you can. The Guardian once called the Festival "a poetry party with a healthy dose of anarchy" and it should definitely live up to that next month. 
I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Roy McFarlane (who has kindly agreed to be the poetry judge for the Gloucestershire Writers Network competition this year) and the John Goodby talk on Dylan Thomas. I'm event managing some sessions and I'll also be performing myself, as part of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival Players; with Robin Gilbert, Frances March and Peter Wyton I'll be doing a series of readings on the theme of "Time" in the Lounge at the Playhouse Theatre on Monday May 8th at 20.30. We're covering a broad span, era and style-wise - it promises to be an interesting evening.  

2017 brochure cover
  






Friday 7 April 2017

When it's Spring again ...

Spring always brings out a childish excitement in me; walking in the woods and on the hills these last few days has been so invigorating.The lovely weather probably won't last for long, but I'm making the most of it whilst it's here! We saw our first bluebell out in Crickley Hill country park on Monday; by Wednesday the woodland floor was carpeted with them. Our first cowslip was on the foothills of Cleeve on Wednesday; singly they never look impressive but en masse they are beautiful and I'm so looking forward to the lemon-yellow haze that will follow there in a few days time.

Violets in the woods
at Crickley

And spring is such a great time for people-watching! At this time of the year they seem to emerge blinking into the sunlight after the long winter's hibernation - pavement cafes are busy again, the gardeners are out in force and children are playing in the parks. I've just started a series of very short poems - snapshots really - inspired by glimpses of people in all sorts of settings. I've always built stories in my head around the man opposite me in the train, staring mournfully out of the window, or the married couple sitting in silence over their meal in a restaurant, and many have made it on to paper. I sometimes wonder what on earth the subjects would make of them if they were ever to read them!

Young Couple At Bristol Parkway 

Stations bookend their loving,
open and close each chapter.

Stranded on a draughty platform
thirty years on,
she'll re-read the romance.  

(Copyright Gill Garrett, 2017)


Saturday 1 April 2017

Gloucestershire Writers' Network

It's been a busy and an interesting week here. A small group of us have taken over the organisation of the Gloucestershire Writers' Network from Rona Laycock, who has run it very competently for the past six years. The annual highlight is the competition, which feeds into the Cheltenham Literature Festival; in addition to receiving monetary prizes, the winners and runners-up in the prose and poetry categories read at a special event at the Festival, one of the most prestigious on the national circuit. I've benefited hugely from my successful association with the competition over the last five years; it has opened up so many writing opportunities for me, so I'm delighted to be able to do something in return.

This week we've been talking about the competition on BBC Radio Gloucestershire and featuring in the Gloucestershire Echo. We're very anxious to have as wide an entry as possible from writers who live or work in the county - so if you're reading this and are Gloucestershire based, how about a poem or two or a short story on the theme of "Who Do We Think We Are?" by July 29th?! You can interpret the theme as widely as you like. Poems can be up to 50 lines, prose up to 750 words. The entry fee is a very modest £2.50 per item. A very generous donation has enabled us to offer two prizes of £200 this year, one for the winning poem, one for the winning prose - so it's worth having a shot at it!

The anthology of last year's
winning entries

You can find further details about entering on the following link - www.facebook.com/groups/GlosWriters