Poet Tom Pickard will be looking back to the days when he and his wife Connie hosted Allen Ginsberg and Basil Bunting and many other leading poets at the legendary Morden Tower in Newcastle later this month.

Tom is staging a celebration day on Sunday 16 June to mark the 60th anniversary of the first poetry reading at Morden Tower, by Pete Brown.

The event will be at the Tyneside Irish Centre in the heart of Newcastle, and close to the mediaeval tower on the city walls.  

Included will be a Q&A with Alex Niven and Tom Pickard, in which audience members will be encouraged to share memories of the tower and the city in the 1960s and 1970s. There will also be poetry readings and an open mic, plus rare copies of Morden Tower’s magazine on sale, and a bookstall, as well as previously unseen footage of Ed Dorn and Ginsberg and others, plus music.

The event will take place from 1pm-7.30pm at the centre in Gallowgate, Newcastle. Tickets from Eventbrite will be £10, or £5 unwaged.  

Last month student poets from Newcastle read poems inspired by the tower at the university’s poetry festival, to mark the anniversary.

Background: It was 60 years ago this year ...