All the Birds: Mark Totterdell, Littoral Press
Mark Totterdell is the author of three previous collections of poetry: This Patter of Traces (Oversteps Books, 2014), Mapping (Indigo Dreams, 2018) and Mollusc (The High Window, 2021). His poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies and he has achieved success in many competitions.
Taking his cue from the concluding stanza of ‘Adlestrop’ by Edward Thomas, “All the birds / Of Oxford...
14th March 2024
Over the Edge: Norbert Hirschhorn, Holland Park Press
Norbert Hirschhorn is a public health physician, commended in 1993 by President Bill Clinton as an American Health Hero in the tradition of physician-poets. More recently he was the recipient of the Pupin medal, conferred by Columbia University in the city of New York in recognition of his longstand...
3rd March 2024
How to succeed as a poetry compere: Born Lippy’s Donald Jenkins delivers a masterclass
There are poetry night comperes that embrace the limelight, and there are other comperes who can’t help being the centre of attention, even if they’re not trying to be. Donald Jenkins, MC of the eclec...
22nd February 2024
The Process of Poetry, from first draft to final poem: ed. Rosanna McGlone, Fly on the Wall Press
Far too often you come across volumes of poets talking about their craft, and you are left none the wiser. Rather than dispelling the mystique, they merely add to it. Now here comes a book that miracu...
5th February 2024
Caribbean influencer: meet Shaniqua Benjamin, Croydon's poet laureate
In April last year Croydon became the latest London Borough of Culture, a title it will hold for a year, and which was secured with the help of Shaniqua Benjamin, the south London borough’s first poet...
1st February 2024
Sands of time and tide on poetry walk at coastal nature reserve
Take a Bronze Age burial site, add a tsunami from Norway that saw off Doggerland, fossilised tree stumps, and tales of Grace Darling. Plus wonderful birds making the most of a reclaimed opencast mine ...
29th January 2024
Away with the Birds: eds. Simon Fletcher, Kuli Kohli, Offa's Press
Britain’s Big Garden Birdwatch, which takes place each year at the end of January, with many thousands taking part, is said to be the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Even if we don’t agree on ...
18th January 2024
Chemistry, poetry, and laughing gas: analysing the verses of Sir Humphry Davy
In 1799 - the year that Napoleon gained power in France – the chemist Sir Humphry Davy, at the age of 21, discovered the physiological effect of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. Being Davy, he wrote a ...
16th January 2024
New Blues and Other Poems: Adrian Green, Littoral Press
Adrian Green is a former small press editor who has published two other full collections, Chorus and Coda and All that Jazz and Other Poems. He is a trustee of the Jazz Centre (UK), and ran a traditio...
7th January 2024