There are so many literary festivals these days that it would be all too easy to fall into the role of professional festival attendee! And for some reason some of our local ones clash (the Swindon Poetry Festival and the Cheltenham Literature Festival for example), which is infuriating when there are competing events to which it would be good to go. I have no desire to hear the "big names" who are simply out to market their latest publications, but I do enjoy listening to poets and authors whose work has inspired me and who have interesting things to say about the creative process.
A poet who has certainly inspired me is Maggie Harris and last Friday I was lucky enough to attend one of the sessions she was running in Swindon. I had met her a couple of years ago at a Warwick writing weekend and determined then to get to any other workshops she offered. Along with Maggie, during the afternoon session the northern poet Jacci Bulman gave a reading from her collection "A Whole Day Through From Waking" (Cinnamon). Many of the poems were based on her personal experience of illness and were not only moving but very thought-provoking. An interesting day!
 |
| Maggie Harris |
No comments:
Post a Comment