Write Out Loud - September Newsletter
Welcome to the September Newsletter from Write Out Loud.
This month:
* "What is Poetry?"
* Keith Armstrong at the Octagon
* Essex and Sedbergh Poetry
Festivals
* A New Write Out Loud night in
Bury & all Write Out Loud events in
September
* Poetry Competitions
* Manchester Literature Festival
This month we hear about poetry in Somerset from John Stuart of the Fire River Poets
What is Poetry?
Ever wondered what poetry is? Have strong views on what it should be? Warning: the debate is getting kind of heated
Have a look at http://tinyurl.com/5b2ont
Keith Armstrong at the Octagon, Bolton on 17th September
Keith is a legend in the North East where he runs the highly prestigious "Northern Voices". But, though he recently received a doctorate from Durham University, don't get the impression that he's a dry academic - his poetry his "rooted in the music hall tradition" and is accessible and funny. He’s bringing with him a fantastic musician, Tony Whittle. We are also showcasing Salford’s Melanie Rees & Rochdale’s Seamus Kelly.
As usual there will be a limited open-mic so all-in-all a night not to be missed!
Write Out Loud Events
This month we'll be launching a new event in Bury - check out the website for full details. Then in October we'll be launching a new regular night in Sale. More details in next month's newsletter.
All our other regular events continue throughout September
4th - 8pm Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge
11th - 8.30pm Tudor Inn, Wigan
21st - 8pm Howcroft Inn, Bolton
28th - 8pm Boars Head, Middleton
30th - 7.30pm Caffe Nero, Wigan
Full Details of these and gigs from around the country in the gig guide on the web site.
Essex Poetry Festival
Is taking place in September/October and the festival line up already includes: Rachel Pantechnicon, 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
Sedbergh Festival
Running from the 5th to 21st September the Books and Drama Festival in Sedbergh, England's Book Town, is celebrating Shakespeare... see our Gig guide for all the events
Poetry Competitions
Perhaps you've already noticed but we do bring you news of various poetry competitions as we become aware of them. At the moment we've got details of the Coleridge http://tinyurl.com/6s42uo and Cafe Writer's open poetry competition http://tinyurl.com/6pur9t
Manchester Literary Festival
Will be taking place in October (16th - 26th) and already there is a magnificent programme of events in prospect. For latest updates see our news section http://tinyurl.com/5wmjqm.
Finally
As usual we urge you to tell us about your events, send us reviews, email 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
Poetry in Somerset by John Stuart of the Fire River Poets
They say there are more people who write poetry than read it. That’s quite possibly true, judging by the lack of spirit in much of the ‘amateur’ poetry I have seen, which betrays lack of study of good role models. In this country we have an amazing number of first class poets, not all of whom are fortunate enough to gain any sort of recognition in the cash poor world of the poetry publisher but there’s no excuse for not reading!
There are also large numbers of people who love poetry, who buy books of poetry and attend readings, so the poetry ‘scene’ is potentially very healthy but it needs more commitment from the interested parties. Here in Somerset, we have not had much opportunity to judge the standard of local poets because few have obtained the support of a publisher and there have been few venues which offer well publicised readings or poetry cafés. The poetry shelves of bookshops are full of ‘big names’ and the national chains in particular are guilty of ignoring local talent.
We want that to change.
‘We’ are Fire River Poets, the Taunton-based poets’ group, and we have recently begun to take matters into our own hands. We started offering events at the end of last year, convinced that Taunton - and Somerset as a whole - is badly served by the Poetry Establishment (publishers, booksellers and critics). And equally convinced that we have local poets who are every bit as entertaining and engaging as the ‘big’ names, who express (far better than visiting poets) what it is to live in the South West and how the world looks from our perspective.
We have up to now hosted two poetry cafés and two readings. We aim to do many more, and the audience is getting bigger as word spreads and our network extends. Our local Theatre and Arts Centre, The Brewhouse, is supportive and we feel we are on the way to making a good contribution to the development of the Arts in the county.
There are many groups around Somerset who cater for poets and together they cover most of the county. There is therefore no excuse for the lonely amateur to remain unsupported in the back bedroom, scribbling away in isolation. However, the groups themselves still tend to work in isolation, so one of the next tasks is to try and develop a network amongst the groups so that we can work together to increase the opportunities for local poets to gain recognition and encourage the audience for poetry which we know is out there to come and hear local poets and appreciate their work.
The Arts in general seem to be well supported in the South West, and we can feel optimistic, I think, that if we poets shout a bit louder, we will also gain the support of the arts funding bodies. We, in Fire River Poets, certainly aim to shout a lot louder and invite other poets of Somerset to join us.
John Stuart
www.fireriverpoets.org.uk
This month:
* "What is Poetry?"
* Keith Armstrong at the Octagon
* Essex and Sedbergh Poetry
Festivals
* A New Write Out Loud night in
Bury & all Write Out Loud events in
September
* Poetry Competitions
* Manchester Literature Festival
This month we hear about poetry in Somerset from John Stuart of the Fire River Poets
What is Poetry?
Ever wondered what poetry is? Have strong views on what it should be? Warning: the debate is getting kind of heated
Have a look at http://tinyurl.com/5b2ont
Keith Armstrong at the Octagon, Bolton on 17th September
Keith is a legend in the North East where he runs the highly prestigious "Northern Voices". But, though he recently received a doctorate from Durham University, don't get the impression that he's a dry academic - his poetry his "rooted in the music hall tradition" and is accessible and funny. He’s bringing with him a fantastic musician, Tony Whittle. We are also showcasing Salford’s Melanie Rees & Rochdale’s Seamus Kelly.
As usual there will be a limited open-mic so all-in-all a night not to be missed!
Write Out Loud Events
This month we'll be launching a new event in Bury - check out the website for full details. Then in October we'll be launching a new regular night in Sale. More details in next month's newsletter.
All our other regular events continue throughout September
4th - 8pm Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge
11th - 8.30pm Tudor Inn, Wigan
21st - 8pm Howcroft Inn, Bolton
28th - 8pm Boars Head, Middleton
30th - 7.30pm Caffe Nero, Wigan
Full Details of these and gigs from around the country in the gig guide on the web site.
Essex Poetry Festival
Is taking place in September/October and the festival line up already includes: Rachel Pantechnicon, 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
Sedbergh Festival
Running from the 5th to 21st September the Books and Drama Festival in Sedbergh, England's Book Town, is celebrating Shakespeare... see our Gig guide for all the events
Poetry Competitions
Perhaps you've already noticed but we do bring you news of various poetry competitions as we become aware of them. At the moment we've got details of the Coleridge http://tinyurl.com/6s42uo and Cafe Writer's open poetry competition http://tinyurl.com/6pur9t
Manchester Literary Festival
Will be taking place in October (16th - 26th) and already there is a magnificent programme of events in prospect. For latest updates see our news section http://tinyurl.com/5wmjqm.
Finally
As usual we urge you to tell us about your events, send us reviews, email 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
Poetry in Somerset by John Stuart of the Fire River Poets
They say there are more people who write poetry than read it. That’s quite possibly true, judging by the lack of spirit in much of the ‘amateur’ poetry I have seen, which betrays lack of study of good role models. In this country we have an amazing number of first class poets, not all of whom are fortunate enough to gain any sort of recognition in the cash poor world of the poetry publisher but there’s no excuse for not reading!
There are also large numbers of people who love poetry, who buy books of poetry and attend readings, so the poetry ‘scene’ is potentially very healthy but it needs more commitment from the interested parties. Here in Somerset, we have not had much opportunity to judge the standard of local poets because few have obtained the support of a publisher and there have been few venues which offer well publicised readings or poetry cafés. The poetry shelves of bookshops are full of ‘big names’ and the national chains in particular are guilty of ignoring local talent.
We want that to change.
‘We’ are Fire River Poets, the Taunton-based poets’ group, and we have recently begun to take matters into our own hands. We started offering events at the end of last year, convinced that Taunton - and Somerset as a whole - is badly served by the Poetry Establishment (publishers, booksellers and critics). And equally convinced that we have local poets who are every bit as entertaining and engaging as the ‘big’ names, who express (far better than visiting poets) what it is to live in the South West and how the world looks from our perspective.
We have up to now hosted two poetry cafés and two readings. We aim to do many more, and the audience is getting bigger as word spreads and our network extends. Our local Theatre and Arts Centre, The Brewhouse, is supportive and we feel we are on the way to making a good contribution to the development of the Arts in the county.
There are many groups around Somerset who cater for poets and together they cover most of the county. There is therefore no excuse for the lonely amateur to remain unsupported in the back bedroom, scribbling away in isolation. However, the groups themselves still tend to work in isolation, so one of the next tasks is to try and develop a network amongst the groups so that we can work together to increase the opportunities for local poets to gain recognition and encourage the audience for poetry which we know is out there to come and hear local poets and appreciate their work.
The Arts in general seem to be well supported in the South West, and we can feel optimistic, I think, that if we poets shout a bit louder, we will also gain the support of the arts funding bodies. We, in Fire River Poets, certainly aim to shout a lot louder and invite other poets of Somerset to join us.
John Stuart
www.fireriverpoets.org.uk
Thu, 4 Sep 2008 09:07 am
