Isabel Rogers's Blog, page 5

Hat Poets 2016

[image error]On Saturday 2 July I led an intrepid team of poets onto Parchment Street in Winchester to take part in the annual Hat Fair celebrations. Sorry it has taken me a week to get this up online (realise this sounds as if I think watching Andy Murray winning Wimbledon is more important … anyway, we’re here now).

Our line-up of fabulous local talent comprised: Joan McGavin, my predecessor as Hampshire Poet 2014; Syd Meats, Chair of Romsey’s Tea Poet Collective; Lynda O’Neill, a Winchester poet; Hugh Greasley, a painter-poet; Sue Wrinch, who runs two regular poetry/prose events in Winchester; Steve Scholey, a ringleader of Not The Winchester Poetry Festival; Rosemary Brook-Hart, currently studying for a languages degree; and Cat Randle, a steampunk poet from Andover, who performed as her steampunk persona Merciful Grace the Mechanical Maid.

We played Hunt The Microphone at the beginning, braved rainstorms and wind gusts that threatened to overcome my clothespeg/music stand combo. At one point I was standing behind Steve, holding an umbrella over him and his poems. But our wonderfully enthusiastic audience stuck with us and enjoyed all our performances.

Here are a few pictures from our afternoon – again, apologies for not getting pics of all the poets as they performed (Rosemary and Syd). I was sometimes distracted by rain-management or microphone issues, or (in the case of Syd) too mesmerised by his darlek impression and forgot to get my phone out.

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Joan McGavin

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Lynda O’Neill

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Hugh Greasley

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Sue Wrinch

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Steve Scholey

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Cat Randle, as Merciful the Mechanical Maid

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Our wonderful audience!

Filed under: Uncategorized, Writing Tagged: Hat Fair, Hat Poets, Winchester, Winchester Poetry Festival

Half-way through being Hampshire Poet 2016

It’s early July. Time to sit down and see what I’ve achieved so far, and wonder where the next six months will take me.

I’ve had 15 meetings with all sorts of different people across the county to talk about how I can get involved with what they are doing (from Andover to Portsmouth, Southampton to Basingstoke).

I’ve been on BBC Radio Solent three times (twice live at a ridiculous time in the morning and once recorded). I’ve written two newspaper articles and contributed to a new arts magazine. I visited both Hampshire Stanza groups (poetry groups affiliated to the Poetry Society): one in Southampton and one in Portsmouth. I discovered and then visited a poetry group that meets in Petersfield library.

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The Long Gallery at Chawton House

I wrote a four-poem sequence for Chawton House to help them celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Emma, which involved visiting Chawton House three times as well as the actual writing. Those poems are now displayed in the places in which they are set.

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Gilbert White’s House

Visiting Gilbert White’s House twice to plan for my part in their Nature Day on 28th May was a treat. I then led all-day drop-in workshops for kids and families to write their own nature poems.

After a request from a poet I met at the Southampton Stanza group, I ran a poetry performance workshop in Portsmouth in April, to help poets gain confidence when they read their own work in public.

I went to the April launch event for Winchester Poetry Festival, which will be running in October.

On 23rd April I took part in the All-Day Sonnet reading in Winchester, and as Hampshire Poet was given the very first sonnet to read to kick the day off.

Also in April, I had my first meeting with Proteus Theatre Group in Basingstoke to start planning for my role in the I Am Jane project during Basingstoke Literary Festival. I went on to attend five out of our total of six sessions at two Basingstoke schools to work with girls putting together their expressions of life as a teenager, comparing it to Jane Austen’s experiences.

In May, along with my second stupidly early live appearance on BBC Radio Solent, I was guest speaker at Winchester’s Loose Muse, a regular event held to celebrate women’s writing.

I went to the Hat Fair launch in Winchester, to prepare for heading up Team Poets on 2nd July.

[image error]The Written By Women strand of the Basingstoke Literary Festival ran from 24th to 26th of June. As Writer in Residence, I was at six events over those four days, including the film presentation of the I Am Jane project and leading a workshop exploring form in poetry. In the middle of that weekend I nipped back to Winchester to present the prizes for the Young Poets competition at Winchester Writers’ Festival, as I had judged the competition earlier that month.

Also in June I spoke to Year 1s at a school in Winchester and apparently inspired a bunch of six-year-olds to write funny poems with a lot of toilet humour, which I’m counting as a win.

I read at an evening event at Pilgrims’ School in Winchester, with Rachel Curzon and Richard Stillman, and spoke to Portsmouth Writers’ Hub at one of their meetings.

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The excellent Hat Fair audience (before it started raining)

My latest event was the Winchester Hat Fair, where on 2 July I led an intrepid team of nine poets into the streets to perform our poems to a great audience who weren’t scared off by the occasional heavy shower.

*PAUSES FOR COFFEE AND A SIT DOWN*

Coming up, I’ll be one of the speakers in the July Vanguard Readings in London, and reading with Joan McGavin at Havant Poetry Group. I’ll be taking part in the South Downs Poetry Festival, running a workshop and reading.

There is a Heritage Day event in Hampshire in September, where I’ll be reading with Stephen Boyce. This will actually be the first time I’m commissioned to write new work (this post is unpaid but part of the role is to write at least three commissioned pieces of work). Angela Hicken and I have agreed that my commissions may slip into next year, which is one advantage of this post only being appointed every other year. I’ll be reading in the Stockbridge Poetry Café later on in September.

October will be a busy month, with National Poetry Day on 6th October. Its theme this year is ‘messages’, and I’ll be writing my second piece of commissioned work for that. Winchester Poetry Festival runs from 7th to 9th October, and then the following week I’m doing a workshop in Winchester with Jo Bell and also going to speak to Winchester Writers’ Society and judging their monthly competition for October.

As well as all this, my debut poetry collection will be published with Eyewear in October, so I’ll be arranging readings, a launch and associated publicity for that. (You’ll buy a copy ..? Marvellous.) All I need to do now is decide on the title.

In November I’m going to talk to the Southampton Writing Buddies group.

That’s all so far, but I know the second half of this year will fill up before too long. I’m already putting out feelers to other schools in the county after request from parents of the young poets I presented prizes to at Winchester Writers’ Festival.

I have tentative plans to put on some sort of showcase event for some of the brilliant poets I’ve met across Hampshire so far. I’ve had requests to repeat my poetry performance workshop, and also to put on a series of workshops to help poets improve their work. I won’t be idle. More coffee please.

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By next January I’ll be like this

Filed under: Uncategorized, Writing Tagged: Basingstoke Literary Festival, Hampshire Poet, Hat Fair, I Am Jane, poetry, workshops

‘Written by Women’ at Basingstoke Literary Festival – June 23 to 26

[image error]I’ll be Writer in Residence for the Written by Women strand of Basingstoke Literary Festival next weekend (23-26 June). Look: it’s official. I have a badge and my face on the front cover of the flyer and everything. This post is a bit of a list – pay attention at the back. Ignore if you’re nowhere near Basingstoke.

It’s part of my role as Hampshire Poet, and one I’m really excited about. There are loads of events under this Written by Women strand, from workshops to author talks to family interactive sessions. I’ll be there all weekend, sharing what’s going on via social media and producing mini-blogs, which I’ll put in a separate section of this site (you won’t get emailed every time) and link to via Twitter.

[image error]In the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a project called I Am Jane, which will kick off the weekend’s events. Proteus Theatre Company, a film-maker and I have been visiting two Basingstoke comprehensive schools to work with girls and young women, exploring how Jane Austen’s life and theirs connect. Jane grew up in Hampshire, and we’ve been finding out how much their lives have in common: a lot of the preoccupations of teenage girls two hundred years ago are similar to those of today. They are putting together a multi-media show to explore these connections, and we’ll be presenting their gala film screening on Thursday 23 June in Basingstoke Discovery Centre.

Here are some of the other events going on over the weekend, with links if you’d like to book:

On Friday 24 June the writer Della Galton is running a daytime workshop on How to Write and Sell Short Stories – suitable for beginner or experienced writers. She’ll look at the market for short stories and give practical tips, advice and feedback. 11am-3pm, Basingstoke Discovery Centre, £20. Book here.

Also on Friday 24 June at 6pm, the writers Tammy Cohen and Antonia Honeywell discuss their books and writing generally. Tammy’s new novel, When She Was Bad, is a taut and compelling read. Antonia’s novel The Ship is a chillingly realistic dystopian London, and was chosen as one of The Independent’s best Young Adult books of 2015, and Antonia was selected to be one of Amazon’s Rising Stars of 2015. Their conversation will be superb. Basingstoke Discovery Centre, £5. Book here.

My workshop on Saturday 25 June is at Basingstoke Discovery Centre at 10am – we’ll be exploring why poets choose to write in a strict form or abandon it altogether. Some of us are afraid of form because we think it’s difficult or old-fashioned and twee. I reckon we need to be able to look form square in the eye and understand it before we can let it go. I have two hours to convince people to agree with me! There are still some places if you fancy coming along – it would be great to see you there. The cost is £8 for a two hour workshop. Book here.

Later on Saturday 25 June I’ll be taking part in a special Loose Muse event at 6pm, which will feature writers Agnes Meadows and Sarah Mussi. I’ll be reading a couple of poems, along with Sue Wrinch, plus there will be an open mic. Do come along, either just to listen or share some of your own work! Basingstoke Discovery Centre, 6pm, £5. Book here.

On Sunday 26 June, I’ll be joining the Shed of Stories in the Market Square, Top of the Town, Basingstoke. There will be storytellers from Proteus Theatre Company, puppets, and stories – this is a family event. I’ll be in a corner helping anyone to try some creative writing, and apparently we get to use real quills! This could get messy. We’ll be there between 11am and 3pm, so do drop in.

After that weekend, I’ll just have time to draw breath before I’m organising the poets at Winchester Hat Fair on 2 July, but more of that later …

 

Filed under: Uncategorized, Writing Tagged: Basingstoke Literary Festival, literature festival, poetry workshop, women, writing, Written by Women