Stanza News
January
* Helen Wood (Stanza Profile) and Alessio Zanelli (Member Profile) feature in the current issue of Poetry News. Both also feature on our Members' Profile pages.
* Many our Stanzas are in communication with National Trust properties to discuss the possibility of using their facilities next year as part of the Poetry Society Centenary celebrations. NT have agreed to provide free accomodation to Stanzas where there is room in their busy calendar. More news soon on this exciting venture.
Bath
Birmingham
Bradford & Leeds
Bridport
Brighton
Bristol
Cambridge CB1
Cambridge CB2
Cornwall - Camelford
Cornwall - Penzance
Dorchester
East Anglia
Edinburgh
Falmouth
Farnham & Fleet
Forest of Dean
France
Goring
Guildford & Woking
Hertfordshire (North) / Poetry ID
Highlands & Islands
Isle of Wight
Italy
Kent & Sussex Poetry Society
Kent (North West)
Lancashire (Pennine)
Leicestershire South
Lincolnshire (Louth)
London East
London South East
London South West (Barnes)
London South West (Brixton, Streatham)
London North
Lymington
Manchester
Manningtree women's group
Milton Keynes, Beds & Northants
North West (FY & PR)
Nottingham
Oxfordshire
Plymouth Waterfront Writers
Portsmouth & Havant
Second Life
Shropshire East
Southampton
Spain Alicante, Murcia & Valencia
Spain Mar Menor
Stoke
Switzerland
Teesside
Twickenham
Wales (North)
Bath - Nikki Bennett-Willetts Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We meet on the second Wednesday of the month, except December. 'Uni-Verse' - a lunchtime poetry group that celebrates international poets and poetry. Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16 –18 Queen Square, Bath. 12.30 – 14.00. Drinks available, bring your own snack, sandwiches. Bring a poem to read either in translation or in the original with summary, or come to listen only. Each event hosted by Nikki Bennett. Visitors £2; Members / Students £1 Tel: 01225 312084 / www.brsli.org / e: admin at brsli.org.
* Wednesday 14 January - Various ‘Readers own choice’ - bring your poems to celebrate Nikki Bennett’s birthday
* Wednesday 11 February - ‘From Pushkin to Pasternak - a brief survey of Russian verse’ by Ann Armitage
* Wednesday 11 March - Claire Williamson reading from ‘The Soulwater Pool’ and poems inspired by a visit to India
* Wednesday 15 April - Travel poems from Germany and America - poet and composer Will May
* Wednesday 13 May - Caroline Heaton reads a selection of poetry and prose on the theme of ‘Mothers and Daughters’
Birmingham - Jacqui Rowe Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We meet at the Selly Park Tavern, Pershore Road, Birmingham on the 3rd Monday of the month, 7.30 to 9.30.
* MAKING POETRY WORKSHOPS in Birmingham www.jacquirowe.com/page6.htm.
* Blue, a collection of poems by Jacqui Rowe, out now from Flarestack www.flarestack.co.uk.
Bradford & Leeds - Bruce Barnes Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Bridport - Carole Buchanan-Browne Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Bridport Stanza have now been meeting regularly for the past two months. We have now moved from reading poems that we both like and dislike to reading a selection of our own poems. We have been halfheartedly attempting "homework" inspired by an article in poetry news (I believe) that suggested writing poems based on a favourite word. To spice things up a little we then placed the words into a saucer and picked a random word. This proved to be a challenging task. I ended up with the word "smile", which to avoid cliches emerged as a sad poem.
Brighton - Elaine Ruth White Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* ENGLISH TOURING OPERA: Elaine Ruth White has been commissioned to write a series of poems for the libretto of an English Touring Opera production in May 2009.
* STANZA ONLINE MEETING SITE: 'Meet and make word music' is the idea behind the Poetry Society Brighton Area Stanza Online Site. The online site is a place to post photos, videos, ideas, poems, get feedback, promote yourself, start and take part in discussions - whatever riches you decide to share. So far it has been the place where people can drop in, share their thoughts, news and poems, or take part in the Exploring Form corner, which so far has looked at diamante and nonet forms. www.poetrystanza.ning.com
* Welcome to new Stanza members who have joined the Brighton Area Stanza online. There are now 24 members and counting. For anyone who has not yet signed up, but would like to, just send me your email address and I will let you have details.
Bristol - Sarah Melendez Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Cambridge (CB1) - Helen Mort Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Cambridge (CB2) - Ronald Westbrook Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The Shelford Poetry Circle (which I lead) meets one afternoon a month. If any local PS members would like to come please contact me.
Cornwall (Penzance) - Howard Phillips Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Stanza meets on the 1st Monday of each month at Penzance Arts Club in Chapel Street, 7pm. Please come along and bring a poem to share with the group. Why not bring a friend? Next meeting 5 January 2009.
Cornwall North - Helen Wood Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Dorchester- Pam Zinnemann-Hope Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* There will be 8 Poetry Workshops, 6.30-9.30pm at the Colliton Club, Dorchester, run by Pam Zinnemann-Hope. For further details contact pam AT hope.co.uk.
* I’m discussing ideas for the Poetry Society Centenary Celebrations with Carrie Buchanan Browne who is starting a Stanza in Bridport & also with Kate Scott. If you have any good ideas and/or would like to be involved please make contact.
East Anglia Coast & Brecks (IP, CO & NR) - Fred Ellis Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* This Stanza, that covers a wide area, works with other regional poetry groups to ensure that all of our members have access to live poetry.
* East Anglia is well served but even so we have organised no less than three new Poetry Cafés in the last year! This brings to four the number of Cafés that are supported jointly with Suffolk Poetry Society. These four cover the County of Suffolk and are to be found at Halesworth, Woodbridge, Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds. Though each of these venues has a unique flavour they all share a common approach to promoting Good Poetry, Well Spoken and for this reason they are moderated readings rather than Open Mike. The atmosphere is informal and the audiences attentive. Readers from all parts of East Anglia come to give voice to new pieces, and value the work of fellow poets.
Edinburgh - Aileen Lobban Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Falmouth - Elaine Ruth White Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Farnham & Fleet - Val Harris Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* This Stanza is currently on hold but back again in 2009.
Forest of Dean - Jean Brodie Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
France (Vergongheon, Auvergne) - Jim Barron Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Goring - Mary Williams Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Our Stanza meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm - 5 Summerfield Rise, Goring - to discuss any poems you may have written recently. Everyone welcome. We enjoy the poems we read together, making suggestiions for each other's work. We discuss with interest new ideas as they come along.
Guildford & Woking - Sharyn Owen Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Hertfordshire (North) / Poetry ID - Richard Copeland Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We meet regularly each Thursday at 7.30 pm at the Settlement, Nevells Road, Letchworth Garden City - to write and have a read-round of new work. Richard Copeland's website: http://richardcopeland.wetpaint.com/.
* Poetry Society members might like to know that a CD of Poetry ID members reading their work is now available for the princely sum of £5 (not a lot). Entitled 'Renshi', the entire proceeds of sales will be donated to the North Herts Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. They can be ordered from Phil Ilsley at The Cottage by the Church, Weston, Herts SG4 7DJ or email p_ils AT yahoo.co.uk.
Highlands & Islands - Maggie Haggith Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Isle of Wight - Edmund Matyjaszek Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The Isle of Wight Stanza (for members of the Poetry Society) - The next meeting will be in Ventnor as usual on Thursday January 22nd, 8pm. This is open to Poetry Society members only and involves close and critical examination of poems by Stanza members and others.
* Torriano Poetry Competition, Closing Date: 31-Jan-09. Details: Max 40 lines. Judges – Nancy Mattson and Mike Bartholomew-Biggs. £250 First prize; £150 Second Prize; £75 Third Prize. Entry Fee: £3 one poem; £5 two poems; £10 five poems. Cheques to Torriano Support Fund. Contact: Diana Baggs, 1 Havelock Road, Walmer, Deal, Kent CT14 7TE. Tel: 01304 372 914. Email: june.english AT btinternet.com
* 2009 is the Centenary Year of the Poetry Society, founded in 1909. The Poetry Society is the major national organisation for those who read, write, and love poetry. It is an independent charity, owned and run by its members. It has over 60 nation-wide "Stanzas" or local groups. The Isle of Wight was one of the founding stanzas in 2005. A schedule of events and activities to celebrate the Centenary will be circulated later this month, including the first Isle of Wight Open Poetry Competition "Island Voices".
* Open Mic Poetry & Music Evening - Thursday 15th January 2009 7.30pm - Quay Arts, Sea Street, Newport Harbour Poets & Musicians welcome! 7.30pm (sign up by 7.25 pm to book yourself a 5 minute slot); £ 3 (pay on the door). A chance to read out up to 3 of your own poems and/or your own music to a friendly and receptive audience in the Quay Arts Café/Bar. If you don’t fancy reading why not come along and listen over a cup of coffee or glass of wine?
* Loft Poets meet 10.30 am every Wednesday in Ryde Town Hall. The Council Chamber, Ryde Town Hall, Lind Street.
* 'The Yellow Star' - A Holocaust Memorial Day reading. Sunday January 25th 11.30am & 1.30pm.
D-Day Museum, Clarence Esplanade, Southsea 023 9282 7261. Holocaust Memorial Day has been held every year since 2001, and on the nearest Sunday, January 25th, there will be a service of remembrance at 11am outside the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, and immediately afterwards a reading in the theatre in the museum tracing the story of the Holocaust through poems and texts by survivors and witnesses, and by others, contemporary and of the period. This 25 minute reading will be repeated at 1.30pm in the museum's theatre. Entrance is free to both the museum and the reading is by Edmund Matyjaszek, of the Isle of Wight Stanza, and Maggie Sawkins of the Portsmouth Stanza.
Italy - Alessio Zanelli Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Kent & Sussex Poetry Society - Clive Eastwood Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Kent (North West) - Anne Stewart Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Kent North West Stanza meets at 8pm in The Two Doves, 37 Oakleigh Road, Bromley Common, Kent, BR2 8HD, a friendly 'local' pub, with a conservatory space separate from the main public house. Street parking near the pub and in the streets behind it.
Lancashire (Pennine) - Theresa Robson Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The Pennine Lancashire Poetry Society Stanza meets at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of the second month at the New Inn, Parson Lane, Clitheroe, with an extra meeting in December. The Stanza is open to Poetry Society members only, with an open meeting in December.
* Wednesday, February 11 2009 -
- Talk by Jo Harding (subject to be confirmed)
- Workshop - please bring several copies of one of your poems for circulation.
* Wednesday, April 8 2009
- Talk by Judy Sowter on reading poetry aloud. Do you break into a cold sweat at the thought of reading your work aloud or have you got the voice projection of a mouse? Actor Judy Sowter will share some of her best secrets gleaned from nearly 30 years on the stage.
- Workshop - please bring several copies of one of your poems for circulation.
* Wednesday, June 10 2009
- Talk (subject and speaker to be confirmed).
- Workshop - please bring several copies of one of your poems for circulation.
* Wednesday, September 9 2009
- Talk (subject and speaker to be confirmed).
- Workshop - please bring several copies of one of your poems for circulation.
* There was a good turnout for our December 08 the meeting – about 12 Poetry Society members and their guests – and apologies were received from four members. Unfortunately, we did not have a roaring fire, as planned, but we did have roaring central heating! The meeting received plenty of publicity in the local press.
* A wide variety of poems with a festive or winter theme were read, including work by Robert Frost, Kathleen Raine, Robert Haydn, Mahmood Darwish and Anna Swir. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the poetry, as well as the mince pies!
* The National Trust is helping the Poetry Society celebrate its centenary next year by hosting poetry events, such as readings and residencies. There are two National Trust properties in Lancashire, one of which – Gawthorpe Hall – is in Pennine Lancashire. The group discussed at its November meeting what kind of event might be held and ideas included a themed reading (easy to organise and minimum cost), a workshop and reading, or the publication of a book and reading (time consuming and costly).
* The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 11, at the New Inn in Parson Lane, Clitheroe. It will include a talk by Jo Harding on “Poetry in Translation” and a workshop. Please send Theresa copies of your favourite poems in translation or a poem you have translated by Friday, February 6, for circulation. Additionally, if you want to “workshop” a poem-in-progress, please also send that to Theresa. Please note the workshop is not intended as a reading or a showcase, so don’t send completed work. Poems will be workshopped on a first-come-first-served basis.
Leicestershire South - Charles Lauder Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The South Leicestershire Stanza gets together once a month upstairs at Waterstone's in Market Harborough, and will meet on the following Saturdays at 2pm: January 10.
Lincolnshire (Louth) - Christopher Sanderson Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Louth Poetry Group meets the last Thursday of the month, 7.30pm at 30 Victoria Road.
www.louthpoetrygroup.lincolnshirewritingcentre.co.uk/
or writers AT lincolnshirewritingcentre.co.uk or 01507 600 064.
* Next meet is Thursday January 29th. For the new year and a new day to meet we thought the theme of 'beginnings' was appropriate. Bring along whatever this suggests to you, both from your own writings and from poetry that you have read. The poetry circle hasn’t yet started but may begin in the new year if time allows, in the meantime feel free to send poetry to be read out at the group if you can’t make it, or submit your poetry for the next uprising magazine.
London East - Jenny Shepherd Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We had a "pre-Christmas" meeting on Sunday, 14th December, with mulled wine, instead of the usual tea and coffee! We also brought along a poem we liked, to read to the others, not just our own work. Some of us chose Xmas-themed ones, but not all of us! And, for the first time ever, I had another female poet to keep me company!
* Our next meeting is Sunday 18th January 2009, at the usual time of 4:30pm, contact me for venue details.
London (South East) - Jocelyn Page Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The new Stanza Rep is Jocelyn Page.
London (South West - Barnes) - Kavita Jindal Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The London South-West Stanza meets one evening a month for an informal workshop session.
London (South West - Brixton / Streatham) - Wendy Dyer Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We're a relaxed group. Our Stanza meets monthly on the first Wednesday of every month. Reading and discussing both published works and our own material. Brixton Hill SW2, 8pm to 10pm - contact 020 8671 0107 for more details. Newcomers welcome.
London (North) - Katherine Gallagher Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We meet on the first Friday of the month from 5 - 7 pm.for exchange of poems and poetry news. The time gets stretched around a bit but generally this system is working fine.
* The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green is continuing to host a range of events, recently launching Myra Schneider's Circling the Core and an anthology from local poets.
Lymington - Keith Bennett Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Manchester - John Haines Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* This Stanza is on hold for the moment.
Manningtree women's group - Sally Festing Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* The Manningtree Stanza group continues to hold workshops at fortnightly intervals. Poetry Workshops will be at 10 Central Maltings, Kiln Lane, Manningtree, CO11 1HR.
Milton Keynes, Beds and Northants - Mark Niel Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Our group will meet every 3 months - all welcome - and our first meeting was in November 2008. This went well with a dozen people gathering. It was a very positive and enthusiastic beginning. We all were writers of poetry and we had two rounds of reading, one poem of our own and one from a publushed author. It was an ecletic mix from Wordsworth to John Cooper Clark. There seems to be an appetite for similar meetings and we drew members from Kettering (Northants) to Bedford.
* 11 January 2009 Milton Keynes, MADCAP 7.30pm Tongue in Chic. Open Mic with headline guest A F Harrold
* 20 January 2009 Stony Stratford Lit Festival From Bard to Verse
* First Tuesday of month Northampton Edge of Town Pub Ripping Pages
* First Tuesday of month Coventry, Tin Angel Pub Night Blue Fruit
* Second Sunday, every 2 months - Milton Keynes, MADCAP Tongue in Chic
* Tuesdays London, Poetry Café Poetry Unplugged, 22, Betterton St Covent Garden
* First Friday of the month Quaker Centre, Downhead Park, MK - Speakeasy Writers Group Reading for feedback.
North West (PR & FY) - Kate Eggleston-Wirtz Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* There is a poetry group who gets together for open mic at Borders Books in Preston on the 4th Monday of every month, but they have recently lost their leader. We are checking this out and seeing if they wish to be involved with our group in some way.
Nottingham - Richard Goodson Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Oxfordshire - Mike Kavanagh Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We meet every month with a workshop format e.g. each poet reads and we keep to one poem each; we then go around the circle and everyone has a chance to comment one by one; I'll time everything so we don't run out of time; the poet stays silent during the comments, but is given a chance to respond, clarify, ask questions, etc. at the end. If you can manage it, please email your poem to me for circulation to the group prior to the meeting which will give people a bit more time to digest it. Otherwise, please bring 7 copies for the night.
Plymouth Waterfront Writers - Godfrey Ackers Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* As advertised in the current Cotehele brochure, on Thursday 11 December, five members of the Plymouth Waterfront Writers Stanza, including two Poetry Society members, gave an hour's readings of their own and well known authors' verse in the Great Hall of Cotehele. It was by way of a trial for four readings planned for 2009. There was no dedicated audience, but some thirty or forty visitors passing through, mostly on guided tours, stayed for a few minutes. The Hall was resonant, and three readers used a microphone and amplifier on which all had been trained elsewhere. The five readers took turns of about three minutes each, and the second round was much better than the first, which in the resonant hall was spoken too quickly. I wandered about the Hall guaging response. The verses which seemed to have the better response were of the Pam Ayres type, and my opinion is that anything of a more sophisticated nature seemed lost on the audience. In the absence of special Poetry Society flyers (which I understand will be available next year) only those who heard the opening and closing addresses would have known that the Poetry Society was involved.
* Next year's readings will be in the library where there is seating for about a dozen listeners and to which notices are planned pointing the way. It will be interesting to see how many turn up and what type of poetry/verse they prefer. Cotehele, on average attracts about 200 visitors a day both for excellent gardens and historic buildings.
* Clearly, the presenting stanza will need to have done its homework (accoustics, types of verse, location etc) and to have ensured that the event is well publicised, not only in the NT brochure, but also elsewhere in terms approved by the NT establishment.
Portsmouth & Havant - Maggie Sawkins Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Poetry submissions are invited for a forthcoming anthology of Portsmouth poems. For guidelines please refer to tongues & grooves website - www.tongues-and-grooves.org.uk.
* SUNDAY 25 JANUARY – tongues & grooves at The Florence. Bring a poem (yours or someone else’s) on the theme of FAMILY. Music with semi-professional, father and daughter duo, 2FOLD.£3/£2. 8 pm.
* SATURDAY 31 JANUARY – Poetry, Music & Curry at The Parlour with OBOSKA (Bernard MacDonagh, Martin and Stephanie Heys, Maggie Sawkins). Tickets £7.50 inclusive of authentic Indian cuisine. The Parlour, Old Fawcett Road, Southsea. 8 pm. www.theparloursouthsea.co.uk
Second Life Stanza - Adele Ward Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Our most exciting news at the moment is that publishers are joining us with virtual stores which we’re giving for free in return for interaction with writers. More of that later in this report and you can read about it in Publishing Talk where Jon Reed has asked me to write about 3D internet www.publishingtalk.eu/blog/author/award/ The lovely building you can see in the pics are by my co-organiser Peter Chowney who is also a wiz with our website.
* The Second Life Stanza now has 46 members from all over the world who join in with activities on the Written Word area. During autumn this meant participating in the Autumn Writers’ Exhibition which we organise – the biggest annual event on Second Life for writers. There were more than 100 writers, both published and unpublished, displaying in free tents and huts, and about 200 writers if you count all the books and posters set out. It’s one of our favourite moments of the year with a week of events, fireworks and music as well as readings, music, open mics and competitions. I’ve been wanting more members who have a first language other than English and am really pleased that Stanza member Marieluise Niehus has arranged a German group. Marieluise is a popular poet on Second Life, and another German member is the published poet Ulrich Hinz whose poetry can be found on www.youtube.com/user/urdal2007 and www.ulrich-hinz.de
* After the exhibition we organised a calm harbour area where people could sit and write during NaNoWriMo and we encouraged each other through novels. Second Life Stanza members took part in this too and we did remember to keep going with our poetry! It may sound as if a virtual world could distract from writing, but sitting together and feeling the concentration of other writers did help us work. We decided to merge our weekly Wednesday Stanza meeting with our well-established Writers’ Circle, which combines open mic with critique and feedback if asked for. This means a good sized audience, which is nice for people wanting to share their work, and we alternated readings of poetry with the NaNoWriMo authors reading from their novels in progress. This meeting has been very well attended and active, and writers can choose to have their work published on our website http://www.writtenword.org.uk on the Writers’ Circle page.
* After NaNoWriMo things started to get more exciting as we decided to help members move towards publishing and broadcasting in various ways if they wanted to. We kept the writing area and set out communal caravans where people can still come and write in company. Peter also made a lovely area with stores where we could invite publishers to take free space if they were offering something attractive to the writers. This is working out very well. Canongate joined and will have a Litzine on their website in the New Year where people can post their own writing http://www.meetatthegate.com. They also have submissions guidelines and will look at manuscripts submitted without an agent. Independent publishers Cinnamon and Bluechrome are also on the area, and like many independents they have awards with book contracts on offer and anthologies for writers to submit to. Other large publishers are coming but I can’t talk about the details until they’ve been confirmed, and I’m especially excited by a poetry publisher and editor who should be with us by the time of my next report.
* I’m a bit of a broadcasting enthusiast and our other venture at the moment is to make online radio broadcasts where I’ll read out poetry by our members, and also their favourite poems by other writers. The publishers on our area will be bringing in authors to give readings and talks about getting published, and there will be more poets coming in 2009. Patrick Jones, whose poetry collection ‘Darkness is Where the Stars Are’ was in the news when Waterstones cancelled its launch due to a Christian Voice protest, has agreed to come to meet us. He will be appearing on the Meet an Author show which we record for online television every fortnight http://slcn.tv. We’ve also invited Nic Treadwell to have a little studio for his popular Homegrown Podcast show on our area, and he also takes poetry readings and music from contributors, so this will give our members another outlet www.homegrownpodcast.co.uk.
* We have a prize competition at the moment for the best poem on the theme ‘A Gift’, and we’ll be on Second Life over Christmas to keep the writing going, hopefully with fireworks and some parties too. For more information on what’s available for members on our area see www.writtenword.org.uk
* Anyone interested in getting on to Second Life to join the Stanza should go to www.secondlife.com and follow the instructions – it’s free. I’ll be happy to help out if getting started seems confusing. To see what it all looks like we have a website on www.writtenword.org.uk It would be nice to see organisers and members of other Stanzas for virtual get togethers.
Shropshire East - Tony Stringfellow Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* PAGE ONE with Tony Stringfellow - don’t miss it! Fridays at 4.00pm and Mondays at 9.00am on 101.8 WCRFM and online at www.wcrfm.com. If you have a poem or any Litty Ditties that you would like to feature in the show, or if you would like to appear on the show, then contact Tony.
Southampton - Gil Dekel Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Poetry Stanza Southampton meets monthly on a Wednesday evening, bringing poets together to discuss their poems, look at the work of others, and have a poetic chat. It is a supportive group for those with a passion for poetry. All welcome!
Spain (Alicante, Murcia & Valencia - Christopher North Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* January 20th Poetry Workshop 5-7pm at La Sede 57/59 C/Purissima, Benissa - PLease bring 8 copies anything you'd like submitted for discussion.
* January 21st 'The Writer's Voice' a discussion and workshop chaired by Christopher North 6-30 -8.30 at La Sede 57/59 C/Purissima, Benissa - in conjunction with the Jalon Valley Writers
* January 23rd Joint and Bilingual poetry Reading by Christopher North and Terry Gifford and their translators. 6 -7.30 at La Sede 57/59 C/Purissima, Benissa
* Bookings now welcome for 7 day residential courses at the Almassera Vella Relleu with Graham Fawcett (Poetry and Autobiography) starting March 21st, Penelope Shuttle ('Boundaries') starting April 4th and Gail Langstroth (Poetry and Eurythmy) May 16th. Courses later in the year include Christopher North, Mimi Khalvati, Gerad Benson, Gwynneth Box (on translation) and James Byrne of Wolf magazine. Details www.oldolivepress.com
Spain (Mar Menor) - David Urion Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Stanza Mar Menor has taken off better than we could have anticipated. We have 13 members on our list and usually have around 10-11 at our writing workshops or poetry readings alternate Wednesday mornings in San Javier. our members come from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Hungary, England, Malta and Zimbabwe, and have brought a wealth of experience and diverse poetry interests that have helped our meetings to be fun, informative and inspiring.
* The group seems to have bonded well and we have planned writing sessions and excursions to take us up to the end of June 2009 - so we can assume that the sessions are interesting enough to have stimulated interest within the members to want to continue coming!
* In October we held a series of creative workshops around the theme of an endangered variety of seahorse found in the inland sea from which we take our name and produced 12 finished poems that our poets were proud to pass on for presentaton to Fundaccíon Cluster who are an environmental body tasked with preserving the natural habitats of plants, animals and fish species in the Murcia region. They are currently looking at the best way to display our work in their interpretation and education centre to help highlight the plight of the seahorse to the public.
* We have received free use of premises to hold our sessions from the local youth department and this in turn has enabled me to put some of our members in touch with the coordinator there to sign up and join a language exchange project between Spanish and English speakers that I have been part of for a while.
* A personally useful by-product of our local publicity to attract Spanish poets to our group has been contact from a Catalan poet who visits our area each weekend and saw our leaflets in the local library. He presented me with a signed collection of his fantastic work and introduced me to other Spanish poets and readings that I was previously unaware existed. I have recently been to a lively reading and book launch by 3 Catalan poets who have their own radio programme in Barcelona and also been invited to take along our members to attend creative poetry writing workshops in Spanish run by the University of Cartagena each month. Slowly but surely we are finding our feet and making a name for ourselves and most of our newer members seem to be coming from referrals from existing members. I can say that I´ve enjoyed attending every session we´ve done so far and Wednesdays can´t come around fast enough as they bring so much pleasure.
Stoke - John Williams Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We meet, for the first time, on Tuesday, 20th January 2009, at 7 pm in the Meeting Room of The Leopard pub in Burslem (21 Market Square).
Switzerland (Geneva) - Emily Bilman Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Our group consists of up to 7 published professional poets, with monthly meetings at 7pm on Thursdays in my home in Geneva to read, criticize, and comment on our old and new poems and discuss literary forms. For further interest and if you are writing professionally, please contact me.
* We are planning a collaboration with the poets in Bern in the near future.
Teesside - Andy Croft & Maureen Almond Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* No news this month.
Twickenham - Judith Watts Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* We currently have 10 core members, with occasional guests. Our focus will be to workshop, and in addition we will have a special topic each month, such as approaching magazines, the reading/performance/scene, entering competitions, the Poetry Society, presentations on poets/poetry.
Wales (North) - Daffni Percival Contact this Stanza Top of Page
* Due to the big distances between people in this area, I have started an email list on Yahoo for the Stanza for members to post their poems and read each other's work. We already have two up there. The link is northwalesstanza AT yahoogroups.com. Membership for posting is open only to Stanza members but anyone can read.
Disclaimer | Credits