Tag Archives: The Wordsworth Trust
Poetry Reading: Katrina Porteous & Jean Sprackland
The 23 September marked the penultimate reading of the Wordsworth Trust’s 2014 poetry season and the first time we’ve seen two female poets share a stage since the Women’s Poetry Festival in April. Katrina Porteous and Jean Sprackland were well worth the wait. Katrina Porteous started the night off with poems from her new book Two […]
Poetry Reading: Kei Miller & Liz Berry
The latest evening reading brought to the Trust two poets whose work is deeply involved in place and the language of those places. Liz Berry began proceedings with readings from her collection Black Country, shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection. The accent of her native Dudley was, she said, a beautiful […]
Poetry Reading: Owen Sheers & Paul Farley
Despite the torrential rain and as a testament to their appeal, the room at the Daffodil Hotel was all but full for the reading of two of the Trust’s former poets-in-residence, Owen Sheers and Paul Farley. Sheers, resident in 2004, began the evening with readings from his verse drama Pink Mist, which he developed from interviews […]
Poetry Reading: August Kleinzahler & Tom Pickard
Although the two poets at the Trust’s latest reading came from very different places, they had much to unify them. Pickard is from Newcastle whereas Kleinzahler originates in New Jersey, but they both came with recommendations from Allen Ginsberg (the influence of the Beats was evident in both of their readings), studied under Basil Bunting, […]
Poetry Reading: Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage’s annual reading came on a balmy evening at the half way point of this year’s Poetry Season. St Oswald’s was filled with regulars and newcomers alike and it quickly became apparent why Armitage continues to draw large numbers, as he engaged the audience by joking that the reading had been well organised to […]
Poetry Reading: Jen Hadfield & David Constanstine
Jen Hadfield kicked off last Tuesday evening’s poetry reading with an interesting self-introduction: her works, she informed us, concern “strange beasties” of the Shetland shores. “I have a bit of a fetish about them,” she explained with a slight smile that was, somehow, both welcoming and introspective. Coming from an English background, with family in […]
An Introduction to Brazilian Poetry
The second evening of the Wordsworth Trust’s 2014 poetry season started with not one but two events this year. Ahead of our Poetry Reading we were lucky enough to be joined by visiting Brazilian Poet Angelica Freitas, her translator Hilary Kaplan and the editor of Modern Poetry in Translation, Sasha Dugdale, for a conversation about […]
Roger McGough: October 8th 2013
The Wordsworth Trust’s poetry season came to a lively and energetic conclusion on Tuesday 8th of October with Roger McGough’s first reading for the Trust. At first sight of the poet, one worried whether his apparently frail frame would be up to the task of reaching the corners of St Oswald’s church and the hundreds […]
Michael Schmidt & Peter Sansom: 24th September 2013
Here in Grasmere we have been spoilt with unseasonably good weather of late, though the cooler and darker evenings remind us that summer is now well behind us. No matter, a cosy autumnal evening in doors listening to superbly engaging poetry seems a fair compromise for the fading light outside. The penultimate reading of the […]
Poetry Reading: Helen Mort & Jacob Polley
What better way to cap off August than with a spot of poetry on a warm summer’s evening? Last Tuesday the room at the Daffodil Hotel was close to capacity as the Wordsworth Trust welcomed back two of its former Poets in Residence; Helen Mort and Jacob Polley. Helen Mort, the Trust’s youngest ever Poet […]
Grasmere Poetry 