English PEN Ukrainian Poetry Evening
Given the current crisis in Ukraine, and my own lack of expertise in the country’s history and politics, it is humbling indeed to be included in English PEN’s Ukrainian Poetry Evening in Oxford this Thursday, featuring poet Ihor Pavlyuk and translator Steve Komarnyckyj reading from A Flight over the Black Sea, published this month by…
Telling Time: A Poetry Course in Brighton
PLEASE NOTE: THIS COURSE RAN IN 2014 AND IS NOT BEING REPEATED THIS YEAR. IF I EVER DO RE-RUN IT I WILL POST A NEW BLOG. TELLING TIME a poetry course with Naomi Foyle Structured around the themes of past, present and future, this six week poetry course will address traditional forms, free verse, and speculative writing. A mixture of…
2013: Not just another listless year . . .
The publication of Seoul Survivors made 2013 a busy year for my writing career. With the next two SF novels pawing at the door, however, at times I feared my reading was suffering. In line with my random book-grabbing habits, I made a haphazard effort to post reviews on Goodreads, but found it impossible to keep up regular appearances. So…
Midnight Mass and Christmas Thoughts
Midnight Mass isn’t really my tradition. I was brought up a Quaker, and while my ex-Anglican parents would occasionally take us to a hymn service at Christmas, I much prefered being tucked up in a duvet on the sofa listening to Twas The Night Before Christmas, read to us from a little red book with a sellotaped spine. Christmas was…
Christmas Spice & Speculation
Here we are once more, gearing up for the annual winter whirl of gift-giving, soul-searching & future-facing. If you’re looking for an unusual present for the person who has everything, I am offering Tarot Card Reading gift certificates this year. Sensitive and compassionate, my readings are intended as opportunities for the querent to pause and…
‘The St Pancras Pianos’ : A Poem
A poem that emerged from a memory cloud as I dashed through St Pancras Station – the first draft was typed into my phone on the Underground and read an hour later at my National Poetry Day gig. As I was Tweeting about the pianos a fortnight ago, it seems fitting to publish it online. (And if anyone can explain…