World Book Night Party

An enormous thank you to everyone who came along to our World Book Night Party on Tuesday. It was a great success. We gave away copies of Jackie Kay’s Red Dust Road, Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? and Sophie Hannah’s Little Face. There was also some great poetry read by our guest poets, and equally good stuff at the open mic session that followed.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and supported us. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

(If you weren’t there, then stay in touch with what’s going on in the future by ‘following’ us – use the button on the right hand side of the page.)

Book Hedgehog (World Book Night, April 2013)

World Book Night Party, April 2013

World Book Night Party: BE THERE!

Meet The Poet: Fiona Money

Meet one of the poets on our Poets in Residence project at Theatre by the Lake. The project will involve seven emerging writers spending time at the theatre, and will culminate in a showcase on September 7th 2013, at which their poems will be read by members of the theatre’s summer season acting company.

Fiona Money was born and brought up in West Cumbria, and published her first novel through her school’s Young Enterprise company. She is studying English Literature and German in Edinburgh at the moment and although it took her a year to discover the poetry scene there, she’s trying to make up for that now.

Beneath The Boughs: YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER WANTED

Yes, that’s right. We’re searching for a young photographer to take beautiful pictures of Beneath The Boughs, in return for membership to Lowther Castle & Gardens.

Beneath The Boughs is an Arts Council funded poetry exhibition, which will take place from July 19th to September 9th 2013, in the beautiful historic grounds of Lowther Castle in Cumbria. This opportunity not only gives the winning photographer free membership to Lowther Castle & Gardens, but also the chance to get their photos seen on the [insert text here] website, and to be a key part of an Arts Council funded project.

The photographer in question must:

• Be aged between 16 and 25
• Be based in Cumbria (if you’re a student elsewhere, that’s fine, as long as you’re back in Cumbria over the summer)
• Have their own means of transport for getting to Lowther Castle
• Be available to help set up and take down the exhibition (and of course to take photos of the process) during the weeks 15th-18th July 2013, and 10th-13th September 2013 (NB: The photographer should only be required for one day during each of these weeks. Unfortunately, confirmation of which two days will not be possible until nearer the time, due to the unpredictability of Cumbrian weather)
• Be available to take a couple of independent trips to Lowther Castle during the course of the exhibition. Entry to the Castle Gardens and exhibition will be covered by your free membership. However, transport must be arranged by the photographer.

If you’re interested, please email us with the subject heading ‘Lowther Photography‘: up to 3 examples of your work (preferably on the themes of art / nature, although this is not compulsory); your name; your date of birth; and a brief bio (under 70 words).

Emails to: inserttextherepoetry@gmail.com

DEADLINE: FRIDAY, 31ST MAY, 2013

By entering this opportunity, you are confirming that you fulfil the above criteria. Failure to comply with the listed criteria may result in disqualification.

The rights to the photos taken as part of the project will of course remain with the photographer. However, if chosen, you are giving [insert text here] the right to use those photos on our website and associated media (e.g. facebook and twitter).

Meet The Poet: Jenny Walker

Meet one of the poets on our Poets in Residence project at Theatre by the Lake. The project will involve seven emerging writers spending time at the theatre, and will culminate in a showcase on September 7th 2013, at which their poems will be read by members of the theatre’s summer season acting company.

Jenny Walker lives in the Lake District and has been writing poetry for several years, gradually becoming more and more inseparable from pen and paper. In 2011 she was a winner of the Young Foyle Poets Award and since then has read at Ledbury Festival and various spoken word events. She is interested in writing about human relationships, new fads such as the internet and various other ideas, events and occurrences.

Meet The Poet: Katie Hale

 

Meet one of the poets on our Poets in Residence project at Theatre by the Lake. The project will involve seven emerging writers spending time at the theatre, and will culminate in a showcase on September 7th 2013, at which their poems will be read by members of the theatre’s summer season acting company.

 

Born in Cumbria, Katie has been published in Poetry Review, The Frogmore Papers and Cadaverine, as well as anthologies such as 11 Poets and Eloquence in Times of Crisis. She has twice won the Anne Pierson Award, and was recently a member of Barbican Young Poets. She is currently studying for an MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews, where she is working on a pamphlet which she hopes to publish in the not-too-distant future. She is also the birth-mother of [insert text here].

Read an example of her poetry here.

Meet The Poet: Phoebe Power

Meet one of the poets on our Poets in Residence project at Theatre by the Lake. The project will involve seven emerging writers spending time at the theatre, and will culminate in a showcase on September 7th 2013, at which their poems will be read by members of the theatre’s summer season acting company.

Phoebe Power was a winner of one of the 2012 Eric Gregory Awards. She was also a Foyle Young Poet of the Year in 2009, and her poems have appeared in magazines including Magma, Orbis and Cadaverine. Phoebe is based in Penrith near the Lake District, and currently studying English at Cambridge, where she runs Pembroke Poetry Society. You can find her work at phoebepower.blogspot.co.uk.

Phoebe was also published in the [insert text here] zine, Dawn Killing Darkness. To read her poem, click here.

Poets by the Lake

Poets being shown around the plant room, Theatre by the Lake

Tuesday March 26th saw the beginning of an exciting project at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria.

Seven emerging poets spent a fascinating afternoon exploring the theatre and speaking to people who worked there, in many of its different departments. The tour led us from centre-stage surrounded by the set of the current production (Rogue Herries), to the plant room hidden away at the back of the building. From the very public, to the very private – the afternoon was eye-opening and intriguing.

Equally interesting were the stories of the theatre’s various employees, which were as different as the jobs they perform, many of which caught the imagination of at least a couple of the poets.

The day ended for some with a great spread of ‘nibbles’ (a description which rather undervalued the amount of food present), put on by Bob and his catering team. Then four of the poets stayed on to watch that evening’s performance of Rogue Herries.

It was a fascinating day, and I’m sure will provide plenty of inspiration for all the poets involved.

The project will culminate in a showcase on September 7th 2013, with poems read by the theatre’s summer season actors.

A good end to a fascinating day – Theatre by the Lake

Submit to Beneath The Boughs (April)

This is the third of our monthly calls for submissions for Beneath The Boughs. The call for poems from February and March yielded some great results, and we’d love to continue receiving your fantastic poetry for our upcoming summer exhibition, ‘Beneath The Boughs’. (The exhibition will run from July 19th to September 9th 2013. Read more about the project here.)

For a chance to be involved in the exhibition, and to have your work displayed in the beautiful historic gardens of Lowther Castle, send us your poem(s) inspired by the above photo, and the theme of DISCOVERY.

Please ensure that we receive your submission(s) by the deadline of 23:59, Tuesday 30th April, 2013.

For information on how to submit, as well as submission guidelines, click here.

(If you really aren’t inspired by this theme and photo, then you can also send us a poem inspired by one of the pictures in our insipration gallery. Remember, the same guidelines and deadline apply.)

And keep your eyes peeled. There’ll be a new prompt here in May!

(Although we are posting new monthly poetry prompts for the exhibition until June, the earlier you send in your work, the more chance you have of getting it displayed, so don’t dawdle too long! Looking forward to seeing your work.)