A former associate lecturer in geology with the Open University will be launching her first full collection of poems on Tuesday 12 January at the Betsey Trotwood pub in Farringdon Road, London. A Gap in the Rain by Barbara Cumbers, published by Indigo Dreams, is mainly about water, or the lack of it, ranging from rain in Cumbria to a well in Palestine, from the North Sea to the Colorado river. Lack of water refers to deserts anywhere, actual and metaphorical. Admission is free, and the reading starts at 7.30pm. RSVP shapley8@btinternet.com