My Writing Life: Week 13

It’s been another busy week (of course), with a straight run of poetry events to start it off. Oh, and hot chocolate. LOTS of hot chocolate.

Monday was World Poetry Day (so a belated Happy World Poetry Day!), which I celebrated at a poetry sharing event in Shap Library. It was a lovely evening, with about eight of us there, just reading and sharing our favourite poems with one another. I took Liz Berry’s Black Country and Kei Miller’s The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion. We also had bits of Kate Tempest, Robert Browning and Pablo Neruda, to name just a few.

Tuesday saw the first ever Word Mess! Word Mess is the new open mic night that I’m hosting in Penrith, through New Writing Cumbria. It’ll be happening on the fourth Thursday of every month, upstairs in the old mess hall at Penrith Old Fire Station. We had a small but perfectly formed crowd to start us off this month, and hoping to grow the event over the months to come. (Next one will be Thursday 26th April!)

Wednesday was a poetry event on a wholly different scale, with a trip down to London for this year’s Barbican Young Poets Showcase. This is an epic annual event, and a fantastic celebration of some incredible young writers. It was also a great opportunity for a catch-up with some former Barbican Young Poets, from my year and others.

I then managed to take a bit of a break from poetry, what with Easter, a birthday and a few good books. (Note: Easter egg hunts with an under-two-year-old are adorable!)

Unfortunately, not much on the writing side this week, but plenty of reading, and as everyone knows, reading is the first step to writing. Though I’m considering attempting NaPoWriMo starting next week, so I’ll definitely have to up my poetry game before that starts. Pressure!

The Week in Books:

Two novellas from the Myths series, and a recent novel:

• Jeanette Winterson, Weight
• Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
• Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant

These were some of the products of my recent new-book-buying extravaganza. I always love reading brand new books – I think probably because I do it so rarely. There’s something magical about being the first one to open the pages, like exploring a new land.

The  Week in Pictures: