Words Unlimited

Taking In Water - Chapter 1

At the official launch of Blue Door Press, on 14 September at the Seven Dials Club, Covent Garden, here I am reading chapter 1 of Taking In Water

 

 

My Third Novel is Out!

 

I'm delighted to announce that my third novel is now published by Blue Door Press and I've had this wonderful review from Helen Dunmore.

“I loved the setting, with the prowling sea, the studio, the house where Lydia has made her retreat. Lydia is a woman who has been burned by the intensity of the spotlight and knows that it isn't safe for her to stay in it. But she is still fully alive as an artist. Most striking is her energy, the way she lives from an inviolable creative core, her survivor's instincts. Taking In Water is thoughtful, sensuous and so illuminating about what makes an artist and what can destroy her. I was completely caught up in it.”    Helen Dunmore.

It's available on Amazon, here

 

 

New Collection From Rosie Shepperd

Top of my poetry 'to read' pile is the brand new collection from Rosie Shepperd, The Man At The Corner Table, just published by Seren.

Hugely talented, Rosie Shepperd was a winner of The Poetry Business Pamphlet competition in 2011/2012 when she talked to Words Unlimited about the way food feeds her poetry, what’s really going on in her ‘relationship poems’ and the parallels between mathematics and poetic construction. You can read that interview here.

I'm looking forward to publishing an interview by another Poetry Business Pamphlet winner, Paul Stephenson, so do come back next week to read that.

Meanwhile, you can read a review of The Man At The Corner Table, here, and purchase a copy, here.

 

The Pharmacist

Interesting how self-publishing can lead to other things.

Justin David recently talked to Words Unlimited about putting his short stories on Kindle. He's now been taken on by publisher, Salt.

His debut novella, The Pharmacist is to be the first title in their brand new ebook series, Modern Dreams.

Writer In The Garden

I’m delighted to tell you that next week I’ll be adding another author interview to the Words Unlimited collection. Sarah Salway - novelist, poet and Writer In The Garden blogger - will be talking about her new book, Digging Up Paradise, to be published in June. It’s a fascinating blend of garden history, horticulture, photographs and her personal response, in prose and poetry, to over 20 gardens in Kent, written during her time as Canterbury Laureate.

Here’s a taster of what’s to come, her poem written when visiting Derek Jarman’s garden at Dungeness. 

 

That Path to the Sea

Let’s build a path like a woman’s spine;

we’ll keep eyes closed to feel our soles,

the spring in our heels,

put down grass, and sand, sheepskin,

smooth oak, and cashmere,

until no one knows what’s coming next,

a line of feathers


so thick it’ll feel like floating,


warm wool giving under toes,

steel girders, resin, piano keys.

We know how it will hold us up,

however heavy we are with sadness,

it will hold us up.

 

photo: Sarah Salway

As part of The Chelsea Fringe you can join Sarah on 3 June and 8 June for more garden stories - Lost Gardens of The Stand. Book your ticket, here. I've just booked mine ...

Newspaper Taxis - London Launch

Looking forward to this Friday evening when I’ll be reading my poem, ‘Ringo Hated Onions,’ at the London launch of the anthology, Newspaper Taxis, published by Seren.

Delighted to find my poem in such distinguished company – others in the book include: Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Elaine Feinstein, Peter Finch, Adrian Henri, Philip Larkin, Lachlan Mackinnon, Roger McGough, Sheenagh Pugh, Jeremy Reed and Carol Rumens.

Featured in The Guardian's What to read in 2013, the anthology tracks the influence of the Beatles’s creativity on successive generations, with poems that respond to songs, events and much more. Further details, here.

Do come along for the reading and buy a copy. It’s all in a good cause as royalties are being donated to Claire House Children's Hospice, serving those children and young people of Merseyside with complex medical needs since 1998.

I'm not sure how many of the poets will be reading on Friday, but I'm pretty sure Philip Larkin won't be among them. Hope to see some of your there:

The Betsey Trotwood, Clerkenwell, London

Friday 15 February 8pm

Orkney - New Amy Sackville Novel

 

Congratulations to Amy Sackville, her much anticipated second novel, Orkney was published yesterday by Granta. It promises to be as rich a read as her first book, The Still Point, which was shortlisted for several awards and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. My copy of Orkney has just arrived - more on that in a future post. Meanwhile, here’s a glimpse into Amy’s writing life.

Kipling & Trix - The Launch

To Waterstones in Covent Garden yesterday evening for the launch of Mary Hamer's novel, Kipling & Trix, for which Hamer was awarded The Virginia Prize for Fiction. 

The name of Rudyard Kipling is known to millions but what of his talented younger sister, Trix?

Mary Hamer's novel explores dark episodes in their childhood and follows the reverberations through their adult lives. In the book Henry James refers to Rudyard as a 'brilliant, agitated boy.' Sister Trix was similarly brilliant but why didn't she shine? 

Later this month I'll be posting an interview with Mary Hamer to discover how she came to inhabit the world of this famous writer and his sister. Meanwhile, the launch in pictures:

Mary Hamer reads from the opening of Kipling & Trix

above: Some of the Clink Street 'midwives' watch the moment of delivery!

below: the author relaxes

Quote of The Week No 6

"Whatever the subject I try to get myself out of the way so that the truth of that subject can come through me into the work. As Brancusi said: It's not difficult to make a work of art. The difficulty lies in being in the right state to do it."

Artist Maggi Hambling

This quote comes from a book, The Aldeburgh Scallop, which charts the making of Hambling's wonderful piece, Scallop, that sits on Aldeburgh beach.

Scallop, a piece of public art enjoyed by thousands, emerged from a very private vision and engagement with the sea.

If you’ve never seen Scallop you can check out my photos of it, here. 

More on the book, here. 

Books on The BBC

 

So many good book programmes on the BBC at the moment

- a useful list of them here.