Write Out Loud August Newsletter
This month :
* Come to Bordeaux with WOL in
September
* The North by North West Festival
* WOL events in August
* The 4th London Poetry Festival
* Essex Poetry Festival - Early Reminder
Also, the co-ordinator of Liverpool's Dead Good Poets Society, Sarah Maclennan, gives a very personal account of poetry in Liverpool
_______________________
Happy Holidays
Hope you have a good one!
Bordeaux in September
We had a small team of poets whizzing round the Bordeaux region last week, performing in Bordeaux itself, Sainte Foy La Grande and Bergerac. A really successful few days that has resulted in WOL being invited back to take part in at least one poetry festival in March 09.
Meanwhile, we're planning the September trip (probably from around 9th to 16th) when we'll be travelling by train to Bordeaux with the opportunity to share poetry on that as well as the events we'll be organising in and around Bordeaux. To find out more about the trip email and express an interest please email info@writeoutloud.net
North by North West Festival
During the early part of month there are many events as part of this festival in Wigan - check out the gig guide for details
Write Out Loud Events
Following a fantastic opening event in Hebden Bridge, attended by over 50 people the next one will be on Thursday 7th August at Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge
All our other regular events continue through-out August
Thursday 14th - 8.30pm Tudor Inn, Wigan
Sunday 17th - 8pm Howcroft Inn, Bolton
Sunday 24th - 8pm Boars Head, Middleton
Tuesday 26th - 7pm Caffé Nero, Wigan
Full Details in the Gig guide on the web site.
4th London Poetry Festival
The 4th London Poetry Festival 2008 is about to happen! To be precise, on August 8, 9, 10 & 11: Friday to Monday. Doors open at six but performance will begin at about 7:30 pm and finish by 11:00 pm on each of the four evenings.
See our News section on the web site for details
Essex Poetry Festival
Is taking place in September/October and the festival line up already includes: Michael Horovitz, Ruth O'Callaghan, Adrian Green and Catherine Smith - check out their web site for up to date details http://www.essex-poetry-festival.co.uk
FAQs
We've produced a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file to help people get the most out of the site - if you want a copy email the editor@writeoutloud.net and simply say you want one!
Finally
As usual we urge you to tell us about your events, send us reviews, photographs of your events and continue checking www.writeoutloud.net, not only for the comprehensive gig guide, but also for News from the poetry world, details of competitions, workshops, reviews and much more.
See you at a poetry event near you soon
The Press Team
www.writeoutloud.net
_______________________
The Poetic Life of Liverpool According to Me by Sarah MacLennan
I was a precocious poet, writing regularly from the age of six or seven. In fact my grandfather gave me a beautifully embroidered book to copy my poems into. I still have it and will have it burned upon my demise. It is highly embarrassing. Posthumous revelations about Phillip Larkin ARE AS NOTHING compared to the contents of this book.
I continued writing poetry, albeit in an isolated mainly cathartic manner, right up until my mid-twenties when I suddenly stopped. I'd suffered a bereavement and found that as I couldn't write about that, I couldn't write about anything. I started writing again in 2003 when I went onto the second year of a creative writing degree and since then, well, the stop-cock's broken on my cistern (poetic turn of phrase there for you) because snippets of poetry come to me all the time. If only I could remember to write the bloody things down.
The weird thing about living in Liverpool is that once you "tune in" to poetry in the City, you quickly realise it's all around you. Open mics, poetry readings, workshops - organised regularly by my employer Dead Good Poets Society, but also popping up in surprising places: bars, coffee houses, derelict churches. Recently someone has been sticking poems on the doors of buildings under threat of demolition .I suspect it's Ringo who wants his former house entrusted to the Nation.
Liverpool, of course, has The Mersey Poets in a way that no other city has quite managed. The Brighton Poets? The London Poets? It's been fantastic in that it put Liverpool on the poetic map and McGough, Patten and Henri are/have been great cultural ambassadors for the City. However, it has also been limiting. The rest of the country seems to think that poetry in Liverpool began and ended in the 1960s, when clearly this was/is not the case. It is a political Hot Potato to talk about appointing a Liverpool Laureate as that title is seen as McGough's/Patten's - and I bet neither of those two poets would like to feel their reputations were blocking the advancement of other poets in the City! There were talented poets BEFORE the "Mersey Poets" and there are equally talented poets writing and performing now. One only has to look at the likes of Deryn Rees Jones, Jean Sprackland, Mandy Coe - all of whom started off performing at DGPS's Open Floors and now receive critical acclaim - to Michael Murphy, Gladys Mary Coles, David Bateman, Clare Kirwan, Colin Watts et al. Oh, and me.
The European Capital of Culture has seen Costa Coffee supporting a Liverpool Poetry Cafe for the year, so that two poetry events can be run per month. They are always well-attended so clearly the appetite for poetry is there. The newly refurbished Bluecoat Arts Centre has appointed a Literature Officer who has organised readings from Les Murray, Jamie McKendrick, Tom Paulin to name but a few. It seems easier to get poetry onto Local Radio. I've given two interviews on CityTalk in as many weeks and BBC Radio Merseyside are supporting a series of Poetry Open Mics. I would love to see more poetry in Liverpool's public spaces, carved into stone on pavements and walls, on beer-mats, posters, the back of toilet doors (Putting the Poe into Poetry - copyright Clare Kirwan) and a Liverpool Poetry Competition that attracts the best of poets nationally. Watch this space.
I still feel that poetry is the most accessible of art forms - you need a paper and pen and a desire to express yourself in words. Mingling with other poets, attending readings, listening, learning all go towards improving your poetic ability. I have made many friends over the past five years through poetry - including many of the miscreants from Write Out Loud - because we share an enjoyment of a beautifully shaped stanza or a saucy flash of enjambment. It's not about being stuffy or "literary", it's about the line that makes laughter burst from your mouth or the poems that socks you in the stomach taking your breath away. It's about Damn! Why didn't I think of that? to I'm green with poetic envy that you are brave enough to put that into words (in the most constructive of senses, of course). It's about sitting at a reading slack-jawed in wonder at a poem and having lines repeat in your head for the rest of the week.
Poetry: suck it and see
* Come to Bordeaux with WOL in
September
* The North by North West Festival
* WOL events in August
* The 4th London Poetry Festival
* Essex Poetry Festival - Early Reminder
Also, the co-ordinator of Liverpool's Dead Good Poets Society, Sarah Maclennan, gives a very personal account of poetry in Liverpool
_______________________
Happy Holidays
Hope you have a good one!
Bordeaux in September
We had a small team of poets whizzing round the Bordeaux region last week, performing in Bordeaux itself, Sainte Foy La Grande and Bergerac. A really successful few days that has resulted in WOL being invited back to take part in at least one poetry festival in March 09.
Meanwhile, we're planning the September trip (probably from around 9th to 16th) when we'll be travelling by train to Bordeaux with the opportunity to share poetry on that as well as the events we'll be organising in and around Bordeaux. To find out more about the trip email and express an interest please email info@writeoutloud.net
North by North West Festival
During the early part of month there are many events as part of this festival in Wigan - check out the gig guide for details
Write Out Loud Events
Following a fantastic opening event in Hebden Bridge, attended by over 50 people the next one will be on Thursday 7th August at Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge
All our other regular events continue through-out August
Thursday 14th - 8.30pm Tudor Inn, Wigan
Sunday 17th - 8pm Howcroft Inn, Bolton
Sunday 24th - 8pm Boars Head, Middleton
Tuesday 26th - 7pm Caffé Nero, Wigan
Full Details in the Gig guide on the web site.
4th London Poetry Festival
The 4th London Poetry Festival 2008 is about to happen! To be precise, on August 8, 9, 10 & 11: Friday to Monday. Doors open at six but performance will begin at about 7:30 pm and finish by 11:00 pm on each of the four evenings.
See our News section on the web site for details
Essex Poetry Festival
Is taking place in September/October and the festival line up already includes: Michael Horovitz, Ruth O'Callaghan, Adrian Green and Catherine Smith - check out their web site for up to date details http://www.essex-poetry-festival.co.uk
FAQs
We've produced a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file to help people get the most out of the site - if you want a copy email the editor@writeoutloud.net and simply say you want one!
Finally
As usual we urge you to tell us about your events, send us reviews, photographs of your events and continue checking www.writeoutloud.net, not only for the comprehensive gig guide, but also for News from the poetry world, details of competitions, workshops, reviews and much more.
See you at a poetry event near you soon
The Press Team
www.writeoutloud.net
_______________________
The Poetic Life of Liverpool According to Me by Sarah MacLennan
I was a precocious poet, writing regularly from the age of six or seven. In fact my grandfather gave me a beautifully embroidered book to copy my poems into. I still have it and will have it burned upon my demise. It is highly embarrassing. Posthumous revelations about Phillip Larkin ARE AS NOTHING compared to the contents of this book.
I continued writing poetry, albeit in an isolated mainly cathartic manner, right up until my mid-twenties when I suddenly stopped. I'd suffered a bereavement and found that as I couldn't write about that, I couldn't write about anything. I started writing again in 2003 when I went onto the second year of a creative writing degree and since then, well, the stop-cock's broken on my cistern (poetic turn of phrase there for you) because snippets of poetry come to me all the time. If only I could remember to write the bloody things down.
The weird thing about living in Liverpool is that once you "tune in" to poetry in the City, you quickly realise it's all around you. Open mics, poetry readings, workshops - organised regularly by my employer Dead Good Poets Society, but also popping up in surprising places: bars, coffee houses, derelict churches. Recently someone has been sticking poems on the doors of buildings under threat of demolition .I suspect it's Ringo who wants his former house entrusted to the Nation.
Liverpool, of course, has The Mersey Poets in a way that no other city has quite managed. The Brighton Poets? The London Poets? It's been fantastic in that it put Liverpool on the poetic map and McGough, Patten and Henri are/have been great cultural ambassadors for the City. However, it has also been limiting. The rest of the country seems to think that poetry in Liverpool began and ended in the 1960s, when clearly this was/is not the case. It is a political Hot Potato to talk about appointing a Liverpool Laureate as that title is seen as McGough's/Patten's - and I bet neither of those two poets would like to feel their reputations were blocking the advancement of other poets in the City! There were talented poets BEFORE the "Mersey Poets" and there are equally talented poets writing and performing now. One only has to look at the likes of Deryn Rees Jones, Jean Sprackland, Mandy Coe - all of whom started off performing at DGPS's Open Floors and now receive critical acclaim - to Michael Murphy, Gladys Mary Coles, David Bateman, Clare Kirwan, Colin Watts et al. Oh, and me.
The European Capital of Culture has seen Costa Coffee supporting a Liverpool Poetry Cafe for the year, so that two poetry events can be run per month. They are always well-attended so clearly the appetite for poetry is there. The newly refurbished Bluecoat Arts Centre has appointed a Literature Officer who has organised readings from Les Murray, Jamie McKendrick, Tom Paulin to name but a few. It seems easier to get poetry onto Local Radio. I've given two interviews on CityTalk in as many weeks and BBC Radio Merseyside are supporting a series of Poetry Open Mics. I would love to see more poetry in Liverpool's public spaces, carved into stone on pavements and walls, on beer-mats, posters, the back of toilet doors (Putting the Poe into Poetry - copyright Clare Kirwan) and a Liverpool Poetry Competition that attracts the best of poets nationally. Watch this space.
I still feel that poetry is the most accessible of art forms - you need a paper and pen and a desire to express yourself in words. Mingling with other poets, attending readings, listening, learning all go towards improving your poetic ability. I have made many friends over the past five years through poetry - including many of the miscreants from Write Out Loud - because we share an enjoyment of a beautifully shaped stanza or a saucy flash of enjambment. It's not about being stuffy or "literary", it's about the line that makes laughter burst from your mouth or the poems that socks you in the stomach taking your breath away. It's about Damn! Why didn't I think of that? to I'm green with poetic envy that you are brave enough to put that into words (in the most constructive of senses, of course). It's about sitting at a reading slack-jawed in wonder at a poem and having lines repeat in your head for the rest of the week.
Poetry: suck it and see
Sat, 2 Aug 2008 04:04 pm
