Guest Readers and Programme
poetry readings start at 8.00 for 8.30 p.m.
2019 Guest Readers
Monday 10th. June.
Sarah Corbett
Sarah Corbett has published five collections of poetry, most recently A Perfect Mirror (Pavilion Poetry/Liverpool University Press, 2018), and the verse-novel, And She Was(Pavilion Poetry/Liverpool University Press, 2015). Her previous books with Seren are Other Beasts (Seren, 2008), The Witch Bag (Seren, 2002) and The Red Wardrobe (Seren 1998). Her work has been commended by and shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prizes and the T.S. Eliot Prize, and she has received numerous Arts Council Awards for her collaborative work with other artists and writers. Her collaboration with the visual artist Zoe Benbow, ‘Dorothy’s Colour’, an exhibition of poetry and paintings in repsonse to Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journal, in partnership with The Wordsworth Trust, toured the UK in 2017/18. Sarah teaches creative writing for Lancaster University and lives in the Calder Valley. She is currently working on her first novel.
Freda Davis
Freda Davis began writing poetry when Elvis sang ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. First poem published in Liverpool Mag ‘Phoenix 9’, Summer 1963 alongside Roger McGough, David Selzer and Brian Patten. Her poems are inspired by observation and narrative, nature and the seasons, mind and body, pagan and feminist themes. Her work is funny, rhythmical and has a musical quality good for reading aloud. Her feminist poetry was published in ‘Spare Rib’ magazine and the Women’s Health tome ‘Our Bodies Ourselves’ (Penguin 1989) and poems on life and the mind, in Calderdale Mind magazine in the 90’s. She performed at Lancaster Uni 70-73, with Bradford Women Singers’ in the early 90’s, with Puzzle Hall Poets in Sowerby Bridge for well over twenty years, and a decade or two ago at the Beehive Poets. She has produced two of her own collections: ‘Sympathetic Magic’ (1990) on inner and outer journeys, and ‘Well Woman Poems’ (2003) which brings together her observations on the struggle to stay well in an unbalanced world. Freda is also a line artist. Her magical moon calendar is widely sold and is echoed in her many, nature-based, spiritual poems. Her recent work is both more personal and more political.
Guest Reader July 8th.
Matt Black
What happens when a man believes that dogs have the answers to all our problems? And gets carried away? What are dogs really like? What are people really like? Join Matt Black for joyful entertainment with a surprising dog story, excellent poems, cheap props and Snoopy’s answer to world peace. A crazy canine journey into your own self. Comedy, science and poetry collide! ‘Barking brilliant’ (Lola). Matt Black was Derbyshire Poet Laureate 2011-13.
Matt Black lives in Leamington Spa and writes poems for adults and children. He has worked for twenty years as a writer in schools and the community, offering projects ranging from serious and educational to playful and delightful. Since being Derbyshire Poet Laureate (2011-2013) his work concentrates more on commissions and his own writing.
His poems are published in magazines including Staple, Envoi, The Rialto, The North and Magma. He has read at festivals in this country (Edinburgh Fringe, Cheltenham, Ledbury etc.) and abroad, won awards, and has enjoyed collaborations with musicians, cartoonists, photographers, storytellers, dancers and sculptors. His collection Goblin In The Fridge was a Poetry Society Children’s Bookshelf Choice.
His most recent collections for adults are Tales from The Leaking Boot (Iron Press, 2018), and Spoon Rebellion (Smith Doorstop, 2017). His play The Storm Officer is touring in 2020.
The Dog Show – Edinburgh Fringe (Surgeon’s Hall)
The Storm Officer – play touring
Tales from the Leaking Boot – book of travel haikus (Iron Press)
Monday 20th. May
Read Around
Bring poems to read and share good conversation in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.
Monday 27th. May
Poetry Workshop.
Bring at least six copies of a poem that you are working on or editing or something that you wish to improve and receive generous and constructive criticism. Followed by a read around.
Monday 3rd. June
Read Around
Bring poems to read and share good conversation in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.
Monday 8th. July
Guest Reader. Matt Black
