Friday, December 27, 2019
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
T. S. Eliot Prize 2020 Shortlist reading
Click here for a link to the T. S. Eliot Prize 2020 Shortlist reading
When: Sunday 12 January 2020
Where: Royal Festival Hall
What time: 7.00
Price: £12.00 - £15.00
TS Eliot Prize Readings
Hear the poets shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize reading from their own work, on the eve of the award ceremony and the announcement of the winner.
Hosted by poet Ian McMillan, the event is the first major highlight of the 2020 literary calendar.
The TS Eliot Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland in the calendar year.
This year’s shortlisted poets are: Anthony Anaxagorou (After the Formalities), Fiona Benson (Vertigo & Ghost), Jay Bernard (Surge ), Paul Farley (The Mizzy), Ilya Kaminsky (Deaf Republic), Sharon Olds (Arias), Vidyan Ravinthiran (The Million-petalled Flower of Being Here), Deryn Rees-Jones (Erato), Roger Robinson (Portable Paradise), and Karen Solie (The Caiplie Caves).
It is judged by a panel of established poets who this year comprise John Burnside (Chair), Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha and has been described by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion as the Prize most poets want to win.
The Prize, the ‘world’s top poetry award’ (The Independent), was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society’s 40th birthday and to honour its founding poet, and is now awarded by the TS Eliot Foundation.
When: Sunday 12 January 2020
Where: Royal Festival Hall
What time: 7.00
Price: £12.00 - £15.00
TS Eliot Prize Readings
Hear the poets shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize reading from their own work, on the eve of the award ceremony and the announcement of the winner.
Hosted by poet Ian McMillan, the event is the first major highlight of the 2020 literary calendar.
The TS Eliot Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland in the calendar year.
This year’s shortlisted poets are: Anthony Anaxagorou (After the Formalities), Fiona Benson (Vertigo & Ghost), Jay Bernard (Surge ), Paul Farley (The Mizzy), Ilya Kaminsky (Deaf Republic), Sharon Olds (Arias), Vidyan Ravinthiran (The Million-petalled Flower of Being Here), Deryn Rees-Jones (Erato), Roger Robinson (Portable Paradise), and Karen Solie (The Caiplie Caves).
It is judged by a panel of established poets who this year comprise John Burnside (Chair), Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha and has been described by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion as the Prize most poets want to win.
The Prize, the ‘world’s top poetry award’ (The Independent), was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society’s 40th birthday and to honour its founding poet, and is now awarded by the TS Eliot Foundation.
Monday, December 09, 2019
Sermon: Looking for the coming of Jesus - Micah
Click here for a link to my Advent sermon.
You'll need to scroll down to the Eleven O'Clock service or click on the Eleven O'Clock service tab at the top of the page.
It was given on 8 December.
Click on the podcast or streaming button.
The sermon lasts just under 20 minutes.
Sunday, December 08, 2019
Hardy, Conrad and the Senses by Hugh Epstein
Here's a new book from my friend and ex colleague Hugh Epstein.
Click here for a link to the book on amazon.
Click here for a link to the book on amazon.
No Far Shore by Anne-Marie Fyfe
Here's a new book by a friend and ex colleague.
It's a book of travel writing, autobiography, poetry, and memoir. Anne-Marie travels across the island coastlines that make up the United Kingdom. She travels also to Ireland and especially Cushendall on the Antrim coast where she grew up. Anne-Marie also journeys west to the eastern seaboard of the United States. Throughout her book, she weaves observations and comments about writers that also have been inspired by the sea and line that divides them. She writes about her deep connection to the sea and its constantly shifting border with dry land.
Click here for a link to the book on amazon.
It's a book of travel writing, autobiography, poetry, and memoir. Anne-Marie travels across the island coastlines that make up the United Kingdom. She travels also to Ireland and especially Cushendall on the Antrim coast where she grew up. Anne-Marie also journeys west to the eastern seaboard of the United States. Throughout her book, she weaves observations and comments about writers that also have been inspired by the sea and line that divides them. She writes about her deep connection to the sea and its constantly shifting border with dry land.
Click here for a link to the book on amazon.
Sunday, December 01, 2019
Book Review Vertigo and Ghost by Fiona Benson
Title: Vertigo and Ghost
Publisher: Cape
Author: Fiona Benson
First published: 2019
Genre: Poetry
Awards Shortlisted: T S Eliot Prize 2019
Content The
book has two halves. Part 1 contains poems about Zeus. He’s presented as a
serial rapist. The poems cover the arc of his life. There are poems about the
various rape encounters he’s had with a variety of goddesses. There are poems
about his later imprisonment and execution. Although the poems depict classical
Greek characters, Benson sets these encounters in a modern day setting.
The
second half of the collection contain personal poems. These are poems depicting
nature, specifically where she lives with husband and children in the west country. Two daughters.
She writes about the experience of motherhood and the anxieties associated with
bringing up young children. There is danger, threat, self-sacrificial and love.
Comment Setting the first part of the collection in classical Greek mythology tmay be a way of creating distance between readers and the experiences she depicts. Descriptions are often violent and disturbing. Shocking.
The whole collection begins with a personal
autobiographical poem about being a teenager. I think it’s brilliant. It
prepares us for the second half of the collection. I really thought there were
some great poems here.
Recommendation 4/5
Poetry Reading at The cornerHouse Arts Centre Douglas Road Surbiton.
Poetry reading at the cornerHOUSE Arts Centre in Douglas Road Surbiton.
Where: 116 Douglas Road Surbiton
When: Friday 6 December 2019
Drinks: 7.00
Reading: from 8.00
Entry £4.00
Click here for more details.
Poetry Reading at The Troubadour Monday 2 December 2019 at 8.00
Monday 2 December marks the end of tthe autumn poetry season at The Troubadour in Earls Court.
That means a poetry bash where invited poets read a poem on a specific theme. The theme is: Somewhere Over the Rainbow. They'll be at least forty poets reading.
There's also the opportunity of hearing the prize winners of the 2019 Troubadour Poetry Competition
Click here for further details about the poetry reading.
It starts at 8.00.
£8.00 entry.
Come along and be dazzeled by words
Book Review: The Heat of the Moment by Sabrina Cohen-Hatton
Title: The Heat of the Moment
Publisher: Doubleday
Author: Sabrina Cohen-Hatton First published: 2019
Genre: Autobiography
Content
Cohen-Hatton writes about her life as a fire fighter and a Deputy Assistant Commissioner. She’s been in the fire service for over 20 years. In this book she describes with quite vivid detail what it’s like tackling major fire incidents. Cohen-Hatton also presents us with a high ranking managers perspective on the decision making processes involved in tacking such incidents. It’s a book partly showing us the mind of a manager and the multi-layered considerations required in managing such incidents. It’s also a book about psychology. She details the psychological processes people go through when faced with such traumatic experiences.
Comment
Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton is Jewish. Her father was Morrocan. He died of a brain tumor when she was 15.
The book describes a range of fire incidents. They are vivid and dramatic episodes. Incredibly readable.
She tells us about the extra ordinary life journey she has been on to arrive at such a senior position in the fire service. She writes about her homelessness as a teenager and her award winning post doctorate research into decision making under acute circumstances. And how this research has changed the way fire fighting is tackled today. Notjust in the UK but globally. It’s incredibly readable and fascinating.
Recommendation 5/5
Click here for a recent Desert Island Discs featuring the author