Year: 2015
Bunhill Fields: Poet-in-residence
I’ve had a great time this weekend as a poet-in-residence at Bunhill Fields. I’ve met all kinds of people come to explore this wonderful historic site in the centre of London: some who live nearby, others who have travelled from abroad for the Open Garden Squares Weekend; some with an interest in plants, flowers, trees […]
Poet in Residence
This weekend, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June, I’m at the Open Garden Squares Weekend . This is an annual event where 200 garden in London (many usually kept secret or private) are opened up for exploration. This year the Poetry School has placed 16 poets in selected gardens. I’m the poet-in-residence at Bunhill Fields, […]
Views from the Beargarden
Last week I was up in Stratford-upon-Avon for a couple of days to attend #Britgrad2015 Shakespeare Conference. I had a fantastic time listening to some thought-provoking papers, and presenting my own – and to my great surprise I won the 2nd prize in the Liz Ketterer Award for best abstract! Part of the reason for […]
#5MinuteStories: Rooster
What if the dead could return, for just one night? An old Chinese folktale says this is exactly what happens – but not quite as we might expect. This week’s #5MinuteStories is about love, loss, and coming home. You can download the podcast or listen below: Or you can click through the digital story […]
#5MinuteStories: Butterfly
Have you ever met anyone who has lived two lives? Perhaps you’re one of those people, whose life seems split in two. Maybe sometimes you look back and think: I used to be a completely different person. This week’s #5MinuteStories is about how a single hour can change the course of a life. It’s about […]
#5minutestories: Cranes
Do you ever get the feeling that there is nothing new in the world? Are we all just doing the same things that have been done many times before? This week’s #5minutestories is about how our lives echo across history. It’s about origami prayers, Hong Kong moviestars, and warring emperors, but most of all it […]
#5minutestories: Ants
Do you have a head for numbers or do they multiply your problems? This week’s story is about ants, stolen skeletons, the numerical beliefs of Hasidic Jews and the mysterious disappearance of the Neanderthals. This is a story about how we try to make sense of the world with numbers, but how they only seem […]