Celebrating the Arts!
It’s been quite a week! Uplifting, amusing, challenging, participative and fun. Most of my attention this week has been on preparing for or attending events which are part of our local arts festival, Arts Alive although the first event I attended was not related – a play just outside the area written by fellow scriptwriter […]
Inspiration
I spent a couple of hours last week at Seamus Heaney’s Homeplace. I was passing and could not pass up the opportunity. And it was inspirational. Heaney was a towering figure in poetry and the exhibition does him justice. Photos, video clips, the opportunity to hear him read many of his poems and so much […]
What the Peacock Replied
I spent a very interesting and enjoyable evening in The Keep, one of Guildford’s friendliest pubs, at the launch of Dempsey and Windle’s latest anthology – What the Peacock Replied. The anthology features the winners and shortlisted poets from the Brian Dempsey Memorial Competition and a fine mix of poems. styles and voices it was. […]
Let the wildflowers grow
After a week of much activity I was struck by the beauty of a few wild flowers growing on a verge. It made me think about all I’ve been doing this week. It’s a long list which includes a trip to Bristol for a meeting of Terrestrial, the arts company I’m involved with; a meeting […]
Pebbles, poets and potatoes
I was musing on poets and publication as I walked the dog between Goring and Ferring at the weekend. This stretch of coast is not only home territory for two of the main characters in the book, Anne and Liza, but familiar territory to me and it struck me that a knowledge of place can […]
Typesetting, and a world of music
Another busy week as we inch closer to publication. The latest stage in the process has been the typesetting. Another task I’m glad not to have to do myself, although I did have to check it through and approve. Fortunately, not much needed changing and we’re now onto the next stage – full print jacket […]
Venues, grand and otherwise
From the pub to the convent Over the last few weeks I’ve been involved in a number of performances in a bewildering range of venues. Poetry readings in pubs, my latest play in a National Trust property, choral Dvorak in a 14th century convent (pictured) and jazz under the watchful eye of Yehudi Menuhin. That’s […]
Surrey Unearthed – and Dorking Talking
Surrey Poetry and Summer heat It was a hot evening on Monday and the 38 people crammed into Narnia didn’t make it feel any cooler as Mole Valley Poets unveiled their latest anthology. Narnia? The back room of the Old House pub in Dorking, so named because you enter through the wardrobe. There were no […]
Chalk, Chalk Gardens, and Elizabeth Taylor
Old friends and new Sometimes everything feels connected. I have been working recently on poetry walks, an anthology launch, and writing some poems myself – all on the subject of Surrey Unearthed. This is a Mole Valley Poets project aligned to a much larger arts project being run by Surrey Hills Arts and involving a […]
Arts Alive
The brochures are here I’ve just picked up a supply of brochures for the annual Mole Valley arts festival – Arts Alive. The arrival of the brochures is a turning point in the summer for me. It reminds me that autumn is coming, it gives me key dates for the autumn diary, and it is an […]