The Overhaul

The next Poetry Cafe at Bank Street Arts is Wednesday 5th June, 12pm for a 12:20pm start.  We're reading Kathleen Jamie's The Overhaul,  and here are a few links that might be of interest:

A review by Kate Kellaway in The Observer (Jan 2013)

Kathleen Jamie's Poetry Archive page

An interview with Scottish Review of Books

We'll discuss the book until about 1pm, and then start the workshop.  Bring copies of your poem, if you want it workshopped.  About 8 should do it.

This month's Poetry Cafe coincides with the second Sheffield Poetry Festival, and I expect you've all seen the programme, but here's the link, just in case.  

Antiphon are issuing a bumper Special Edition to celebrate the festival, but in the meantime, here's the most recent issue from earlier this year.  Have a look through the back issues for poets who'll be reading or hosting workshops during the festival, such as Fay Musselwhite, Suzannah Evans and Conor O'Callaghan.

Rhyme & Reason is the festival bookseller for the headline events, and they are looking into expanding their poetry section at their shop on Ecclesall Road, so that's pretty exciting.  Give them your support, if you get the chance.  In fact, if you haven't already got it, I think I saw a couple of copies of The Overhaul on their shelf this morning ...

Bee Journal

We're reading Sean Borodale's Bee Journal, for next time.

Here's a short review by David Morley.  And here's the poem that made me want to read the rest of the book, "12th November: Winter Honey".

The next Bank Street Arts poetry cafe is on 1st May, 12 for twenty past start, as usual.  We'll discuss the book until about 1pm, then move on to the workshop.  Bring copies of your poem.

See you then.

Stag's Leap

The next Poetry Cafe workshop and reading group is on Wednesday 3rd April, 12pm for a 12:20 start. We're reading Sharon Olds's, Stag's Leap, this month.  The collection won the T.S Eliot Prize in January.

Here's a link to the Huffington Post's article, "Sharon Old's Discusses Stag's Leap, Her Divorce and Her Ex-Husband After Winning TS Eliot Prize", where she talks about confessional writing, among other things.

And another interview in the Guardian, and a review by Kate Kellaway.

We'll discuss the book first, and aim to get the workshop started around 1pm.  Bring copies of your poem.

See you then.

Bill of Rights

The next Poetry Cafe is on Wednesday 6th March, 12pm for a 12:20 start.

The book we're discussing is Fred D'Aguiar's Bill of Rights, which I think is a bit tricky to get hold of, but seem to be available on Amazon, and Abebooks.  Libraries might have a copy, too.

I've a link here for an extract – I hope you can get hold of a copy.  If not, come along anyway.  This book is a long narrative poem, and there may be something you want to say about the form more generally.

Or you can always just come along to workshop your poem from about 1pm.  Bring copies.

See you then.

The Cloud Corporation

Hopefully you're on the mailing list, and so you already know we're meeting next Wednesday, 6th February, 12pm for a 20 past start.  We're reading Timothy Donnelly's The Cloud Corporation.

Here's an extract, and a review by Ben Wilkinson.  And here's the link to Conor O'Callaghan's review in Antiphon.

See you next week.

The Broken Word

The first Poetry Cafe of 2013 will be on Wednesday 9th January, when we'll be reading Adam Foulds's, The Broken Word,  a poetic sequence set in 1950s Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising.

Here's a review from 2008, when the book won the Costa Poetry Award, and an extract.

12pm for a 12:15 start – we'll discuss Foulds until 1pm.  After that we'll get on with the workshop as usual, and aim to finish by 4pm.

Have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.
Angelina

A Sleepwalk on the Severn

December 5th will be the last Poetry Cafe this year.  We'll be discussing Alice Oswald's A Sleepwalk on the Severn, from 12:20-1pm, and then we'll workshop each other's poems until 3pm.  Perhaps if you're free, we could go for a drink after the workshop to celebrate Christmas.

There's a review of Oswald's work here, and an extract here.

The cafe is now being run by the cooperative behind The Rude Shipyard.  There'll be a grand opening of Towards the Lighthouse, Beyond the Shipyard, and The Lighthouse Gallery in the New Year, but in the meantime, the cafe is open and serving: http://bankstreetarts.com/news/poetry-cafe-3/

See you there