2025:

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Words Underground 

​Our first event in March went very well.  The 'Nuns' Passage' - a cellar below the 'King Alfred's Kitchen cafe in Shaftesbury - is not huge, but we were pleased to fill it with what turned out to be an appreciative audience.  Excellent readings from Robin Walter & Catherine Simmonds, & some strong open-mike readings in between, made for a very enjoyable 2 hours.  Because it was a success, we're doing it again in June.  I was MC for the first one, but Robin will take this role during our second session so that I get to be a featured reader.  I'm also very pleased to say the other featured reader is Virginia Astley - who I've known of for some time as a musician but have discovered she is an accomplished poet, with a fairly recent collection (The English River) published by Bloodaxe.  I've been selecting & rehearsing poems to read & am looking forward to it already.

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Shaftesbury Fringe

​Fringe fever is showing its first signs of spreading through Shaftesbury & I've just registered for two performances, 4pm at the Grosvenor Arms Hotel Assembly Room on Friday July 18th, and 1pm in the aforementioned 'Nuns' Passage' venue on Saturday 19th.  I'm preparing a surrealism themed  performance this year, under the title : Richard Foreman Gets Out of His Box.  I've been preparing a series of short prose pieces titled 'Disturbances' - each introducing a dreamlike element into mundane, urban settings - which will be featured strongly, along with a Wilful Misunderstandings story, 'Encounters' & a bunch of extraordinary poems.  I haven't created a flyer yet, but here's the graphic that will feature in the booklet, on the website & in the app. 

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What Else?

Not a lot just yet but click on the link to the 2024 archive page for some of the ongoing stuff.   I will also be involved with the Tears in the Fence Poetry Festival which is scheduled for the 19th to the 21st September.  As usual, I'll be running the bookstall & doing an open reading.  The theme is 'Connections', the line-up formidable & the grub on Saturday is usually pretty good too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lots of writing going on, publication still elusive.  Watch this space  for more.​

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