Lit Fest underway

Yes, the biannual bonanza of everything book-related is in full-swing. Among gazillions of other events you can catch me and Cathy Grindrod (former Laureate) at Shipley Country Park for the Storytelling Festival on Sunday 8th June. We'll be writing poems to order and jumping through hoops of poetry fire.

I'm really looking forward to the premiere of 'More Glass Than Wall' the Bess of Hardwick oratorio that Cathy has written - with the help of hundreds of Derbyshire schoolchildren. It will be performed next week in Derby and outside at Hardwick Hall (fingers crossed for a fine evening).

Yesterday I was a guest of Buxton Library's Listening Group for people who are visually impaired. I read my own poems and played CDs of other poets (with more interesting voices than mine) among them Jenny Joseph, Ian Macmillan, and Seamus Heaney. Thanks to the group for inviting me and here's one we listened to, a favourite by the much-loved Scottish poet Edwin Morgan : Strawberries. (I can't find a recording by the poet on-line, but it's read here by Hamish Whyte (or you can get the Edwin Morgan CD through Derbyshire libraries!)