Faber New Poets

At the start of this year a new Arts Council-funded initiative was announced - the prestigious poetry press Faber were to release a series of pamphlets by young poets, influenced by the continuing success of tall-lighthouse's Pilot series, edited by Roddy Lumsden.

Like the Pilot series, each poet receives editorial input and a pamphlet of their poems is published, but the Faber scheme also offers some financial help for the poets.

Now, the first pamphlets in the series are scheduled to be published in early October of this year. And the selected poets - Fiona Benson (pamphlet cover pictured above), Heather Phillipson, Toby Martinez de las Rivas and Jack Underwood - seem to represent a fair cross-section of the type of poetry emerging from this new generation of poets; unusual, edgy, contemporary and occasionally free-wheeling... hard to say anything substantial here without going into great detail (and even that would only be based on the handful of poems I've seen by these poets in magazines). Needless to say, they promise to make for interesting reading alongside the Pilot series, and will be worth checking out.

2010 will see the next four poets in the Faber series also published - Joe Dunthorne, Annie Katchinska, Sam Riviere and Tom Warner. Of these, I'll be especially interested to see Sam Riviere's pamphlet, particularly if it includes poems as strong as his second place winner in the 2008 Poetry London competition.

Where the Pilot scheme is concerned, talented young poets Charlotte Runcie and Richard O'Brien (both editors of the fine Pomegranate magazine) are also due launch their pamphlets in October, following on from the March launch of Amy Key's instead of stars and Sarah Howe's a certain chinese encyclopaedia. In related news, I'll also be reading at a tall-lighthouse event, "tall reflections", in Cambridge on the 15th September, along with Alan Buckley and invited guest readers. Do come along if you're able.

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Live Poetry in Sheffield

With the shop’s back room packed and excellent readings from Helen Mort, Chris Jones and Frances Leviston, last week’s poetry event at the Oxfam bookshop on West Street, Sheffield was a modest success. It was a pleasant feeling to be promoting Sheffield poets while also making money for such a worthwhile cause – through a mixture of kind donations on the door and book sales, including Helen Mort’s new tall-lighthouse pamphlet, A Pint for the Ghost.

Her performance included a number of poems from this new collection - eerie and provocative pieces on the ghosts and pubs of Sheffield and Derbyshire, past and present - and a handful from her first, the shape of every box, including an atmospheric poem about Division Street, located only a stone’s throw from the venue. Unsurprisingly, copies of her new pamphlet were quickly snapped up after the reading.

Chris Jones also performed a wide selection of his published poetry to date, from affecting vignettes about his young son from his pamphlet Miniatures, to powerful poems on his time spent as writer-in-residence at a prison, as well as pieces on the themes of family, friends and home, from his first collection The Safe House.

The evening finished with a reading by Frances Leviston, who read a selection of thought-provoking and vivid poems mainly from her first collection, Public Dream, including the meditative ‘I Resolve to Live Chastely’ and ‘Scandinavia’, an unusual love poem entitled ‘Gliss’, and ‘The Fortune Teller’, an update to, and reworking of, Richard Wilbur’s ‘The Mind Reader’. We were also treated to a few new poems, including a short, suggestive lyric, ‘Two Owls’.

I also gave a shortish reading on the night, and since it seems to have become a bit of a feature on UK poetry blogs, here’s my ‘set list’:

1. Crux
2. Sunday
3. Filter
4. Home
5. The River Don
6. Familiar
7. Wednesday
8. Gesleham-on-Stour
9. Itch
10. Hex

Given the success of the night, I hope to help arrange something similar again with Oxfam – though perhaps in a bigger venue than the shop, as that back room can get quite stuffy at times. If I do, it’ll be posted up here closer to the time of course. For now, thanks again to everyone who read, and also to all who attended – a fun night.

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Tonight: Oxfam Poetry - Four Sheffield Poets

Oxfam Poetry Night @ Oxfam Bookshop (West St / Glossop Rd)

featuring four Sheffield poets:
Frances Leviston, Chris Jones, Helen Mort, and Ben Wilkinson

Tonight (Wednesday 15th July), 6.30pm - 9pm

£2.50 donation on the door and free poetry CD

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Maurice Riordan

Just a quick heads up to those interested - I notice that Faber poet Maurice Riordan's entry on the PoetCasting audio site is now online, including readings of his poems 'Fish', 'Silenus' and the excellent 'Southpaw'. Well worth checking out.

The recording was made on the same afternoon as my own, and along with another Sheffield poet, Chris Jones, whose readings are also now on the site - of the four poems featured, I'd recommend 'Work' in particular. Jones will also be reading at the Oxfam Poetry Night taking place at the Oxfam Bookshop on West St, Sheffield, alongside myself, Helen Mort and Frances Leviston.

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Oxfam Poetry Night - Four Sheffield Poets

Oxfam Poetry Night @ Oxfam Bookshop (West St / Glossop Rd)

featuring four Sheffield poets:
Frances Leviston, Chris Jones, Helen Mort, and Ben Wilkinson

Wednesday 15th July, 6.30pm - 9pm

£2.50 donation on the door and free poetry CD

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A Pint for the Ghost

photograph by Katie Utting

A fair few poetry readers who drop by these parts might already know of Helen Mort, a Sheffield-born, Cambridge-based poet who won a Gregory Award in 2007. Her first pamphlet of poems, the shape of every box, was published the same year, and I'd recommend getting hold of a copy if you can - it's a good read full of distinctive, musical, lyric poems that are accessible, candid and sometimes marked by deft, even dark, humour.

But Mort also has a new pamphlet in the pipeline, and one which is rather unusually accompanied by a "one-woman poetry show": A Pint for the Ghost. This, as the show's curious blog states, "is set in a deserted pub after hours where strange characters come to introduce themselves. From the phantom miner at Hanging Flatt to the spirit in the hospital x-ray machine, the ghosts of Derbyshire and South Yorkshire saunter in for a drink with me. Join us at the bar when the show is finished later in 2009."

It promises to be an unmissable event, then, including music, poems and stories, and will be touring around the country from late 2009 through 2010, so worth looking out for if it's going to be at a venue near you (and by the sounds of things, it won't all be in the sorts of venues you might expect...).

In the meantime, do check out the A Pint for the Ghost blog, which features sample poems from the pamphlet and show, and posts on everything from the derelict pubs of modern London to Mort's favourite drinking haunts from across the country. Mine's a pint at The Devonshire Cat.

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Poetry Reading Tomorrow

Poetry reading with Simon Armitage

featuring short readings from Chris Jones, Liz Cashdan, Matthew Clegg, and Ben Wilkinson

Wednesday 6 May, 6.30–8pm

St George's Church, St George's Terrace (off Broad Lane), Sheffield



Event soundbyte:

A poetry reading by Simon Armitage, one of the most popular and prominent poets of his generation. His nervy, slangy, chatty poems explore depths of language with vitality and a sharp vision of the North, its classes, dialects and living cultures.

There will be book stalls in St George's Church before and after the poetry readings. The guest authors will be available after the readings to sign books purchased at the event. Signed copies of books by Simon Armitage, Ciaran Carson and Carol Ann Duffy may also be ordered from Rhyme & Reason Booksellers who will provide a list of available titles on request (enquiries@rhyme-reason.co.uk).

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Matter magazine & Armitage reading

Matter, the annual magazine showcasing work from the Sheffield Hallam MA Writing, is now approaching its ninth edition; beginning to take shape and due to be published in October '09.

As well as new poetry and fiction, it'll also contain guest contributions, including new poems from Maurice Riordan, Tim Turnbull and - recently confirmed - Julia Copus.

For those interested in the editing and development of the magazine as it takes shape, the editors have also set up a Twitter page, giving occasional updates on the project. You can read it here.

I've been told that a website will shortly follow, and I'll no doubt post about the mag here again on the Wasteland sometime.

In a piece of loosely related news, Simon Armitage is reading in Sheffield on the 6th May, along with a short set from myself, Sheffield-based poet Chris Jones, and others, at a poetry event as part of a series to celebrate the completion of Jessop West, the new building which houses the Arts and Humanities departments of the University of Sheffield (pictured above). Tickets for the event are free - held at St George's Church, near Mappin St - but you need to register your interest here.

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Odds and Ends

Still haven't found time to blog about my time at StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival held in St Andrews, yet - though I intend to get round to it soon. In short, it was a great (long) weekend: particular highlights including readings from Bill Manhire, New Zealand's foremost contemporary poet; the excellent Simon Armitage; poetry centre stage with Robert Crawford and Kate Clanchy; and the launch of Roddy Lumsden's new collection, Third Wish Wasted. And I enjoyed taking part in the poetry breakfast on young poets, as well as the tall-lighthouse Pilot reading (alongside Abi Curtis, Adam O'Riordan, Jay Bernard and Emily Berry) and pamphlet signing, both of which proved popular.

Before I get to doing a proper write-up then, I thought I'd flag up a few forthcoming odds and ends: I've two new poems that'll appear in the next issue of Poetry Matters on the Tower Poetry site, and a short sequence that'll crop up in a future issue of Stand magazine. Also in the next two issues of Stand, I've a couple of reviews: first of Colette Bryce's Self-Portrait in the Dark; second of Glyn Maxwell's Hide Now. And I've completed a fair number of critical perspectives of poets for the British Council Contemporary Writers site which'll go live in due course, including Robert Crawford, David Constantine, Patrick McGuinness, Carol Rumens, Tom Paulin, and the late Mick Imlah.

Alongside forthcoming reviews for Magma and the TLS and working on new poems, then, I'm having a happily busy time of it - the only problem being that man flu has recently halted me from doing much at all productive; hunched as I am over the PC with a mug of tea and packets of honey and lemon Lockets. Even if you are misguided enough to do so, however, please don't extend your sympathies - many, not least my girlfriend, will amply attest to how utterly pathetic I am when afflicted with only the slightest of sniffles.

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Pomegranate meets PoetCasting

There's a new feature on the PoetCasting website today, which, for those not in the know, is a varied, interesting and always-growing collection of poets reading their work, put together by the enterprising Alex Pryce.

The new feature includes 18 poets who've previously been published in Pomegranate, an online poetry mag which publishes work by poets under 30, edited by a dedicated team of previous Foyles' Young Poet of the Year winners. For each poet there are two recordings - one of a poem which previously appeared in the mag, one of a new piece - and among the contributors (as chosen by Pryce and the mag's editors) are talented young poets including Claire Askew, James Midgley, George Ttoouli and Martha Sprackland. I'm also featured with the latter, reading a short sonnet and one of the poems from my tall-lighthouse pamphlet, The Sparks. Handily, there are also pdf docs of the recorded poems so you can enjoy them on the page while you listen to them, should you be so inclined.

Worth checking out, anyhow. And while you're there, have a browse of the other poets that've appeared reading on PoetCasting - plenty of interesting writers, established and new, including Alison Brackenbury, Tom Chivers, Matt Merritt, Joe Dunthorne, Leontia Flynn, Andrew Philip, Fiona Sampson and Roddy Lumsden, to name but a few.

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The Sparks & Stingray Fevers - Launch Tomorrow

I'll be heading down to London tomorrow for the launch of the two newest editions to tall-lighthouse's Pilot series (publishing poets under the age of 30) - Emily Berry's Stingray Fevers and my own, The Sparks. Do come along if you're able - full details below.

For those who can't make it who want to get hold of the pamphlets, you can buy them from the TL website here (by PayPal or a cheque through the post).

tall-lighthouse invites you to celebrate the launch of two new poetry pamphlets:

stingray fevers emily berry
the sparks ben wilkinson

7pm Friday 14th November

@ The Aquarium L-13 Gallery
63 Farringdon Road, London EC1M 3JB

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Current Issues

A little update on the mag front: I've poems in recent issues of Poetry London (No.61), The London Magazine (Aug/Sept 08) and the revamped Magma (no.42), which also has an impressive new website and blog.

In Poetry London, there're also excellent poems from Helen Mort and Jack Underwood, alongside Daljit Nagra, Andrew Motion and my fellow Hallam MA student, Susan Burns. Well worth a look. The London Magazine includes a wide selection of poems and reviews, including new work by Matthew Sweeney and an interesting review from Christopher Horton of new collections from Salt poets Chris McCabe and Simon Barraclough. And there's so much in the latest Magma it's hard to know where to start - highlights include a feature on the Gregory Award winners with a new poem from each, poems by Claire Crowther, Mark Waldron, Beverley Nadin and Vicki Feaver, and Blake Morrison's thoughts on Larkin's 'Poetry of Departures'.

Next Friday also sees the launch of mine and Emily Berry's debut tall-lighthouse collections: The Sparks and Stingray Fevers. I'll post an invitation up for it later this week, but for those interested, the Facebook group's here.

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By Way Of An Update

Adding to the woeful pattern that's been developing around here this is just a short post and mini-update, so for those of you who do stick around the Wasteland, my thanks and also apologies; I promise I'll post something meatier in the future.

Last weekend I went down to London, and had a very useful (and entirely painless*) editorial meeting with Roddy Lumsden, going through the poems that'll be included in my forthcoming tall-lighthouse pamphlet, The Sparks, to be published alongside Emily Berry's with a launch on November 14th - details on the TL website. I'm feeling slightly more confident about the whole thing, as the meet helped to re-shape certain poems into what - after rewriting - will hopefully be tighter, stronger pieces, and tidy up weaknesses in others that are closer to completion. It was also great to see Roddy perform his own work at the Betsey Trotwood in the evening, and meet other tall-lighthouse Pilot poets who also gave good readings, Retta Bowen in particular. For those interested, my reading 'set list' was as follows:

1. Sunday
2. Byroads
3. The Tesla Coil
4. Filter
5. Lights Out
6. Reflections
7. Hex

It was good to catch up with old friends in the capital, too, not least a school pal who happened to be down for the day before he travels to the States for a few months, who I met by total coincidence on the tube. Unfortunately however, this weekend promises to be less enjoyable, as I've an increasing pile of editing, writing and menial tasks on my to-do-list. Still, I'm enjoying getting properly stuck into Leontia Flynn and Zoe Skoulding's work for critical perspectives I'm writing of them, so it's not all bad...

In the meantime then, before I get around to writing something substantial here, I'll mention that my critical perspective of Faber poet Hugo Williams is now up, and my review of Stephanie Norgate's Forward Prize-shortlisted first collection, Hidden River, is in this week's TLS. Now I'm off to shop for socks and a new pair of trousers. At least it's sunny out...


*Which is to say no poems, or poets, were harmed in the process.

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Reading Down t'South

Friday 19th September at The Betsey Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road, Clerkenwell, London @ 7.30pm: £5



BroadCast presents a reading by poets from the tall-lighthouse Pilot Series, pamphlets by poets aged 30 and under. Readings from Gareth Jones, Kate Potts and Retta Bowen, plus the next two poets in the series Emily Berry and Ben Wilkinson, and series editor Roddy Lumsden.

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Poetry at The Runaway Girl

This took place last night (should've posted it up yesterday for Sheffield-based readers but never got around to it) and was a fun, entertaining evening. So I may do a write-up / review thingy of it in the near-ish future.

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