Oyster Seventeens and the Mary Evans Picture Library

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I’m thrilled to see Oyster Seventeens on the Poems and Pictures blog of the Mary Evans Picture Library website today!

The Poems and Pictures blog is an absolute treat if you ever fancy exploring some contemporary poetry with the odd classic thrown in, each poem accompanied by something exquisite from the Picture Library’s collection. It’s one of my favourite sites for times when I have time on my hands and want to be transported somewhere thoughtful and beautiful. Congratulations and appreciation to its curator, Gill Stoker.

Low tide takes its muted leave –

soft pools

marooned while oytstercatchers play.

*

This fresh day. Let’s shuck it

open, feel

gusto pour between our fingers.

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Who’s coming to Words on Waves?

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Words On Waves is a series of monthly spoken word evenings at Harbour Books in Whitstable and it’s the highlight of my month, not least because I get to host it. Writers bring magnificent words from all over the south east and beyond, and are encouraged to include work in progress so that sometimes we get exciting previews of projects that have not yet hit bookshop shelves. Writers of all genres are welcome and have ten minutes each to amuse and amaze you, with a break at half time to refresh glasses. Tickets at only £3 each include wine and you can book your seat by phoning 01227264011 or calling into the shop.

Our next Words on Waves is on THURSDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2019 @ 6.45pm and I’ll be thrilled to welcome Sam Rapp, Clair Meyrick, Callum Beesley, and our first publisher’s showcase, of writers published by Cultured Llama in Rochester:

Maria C. McCarthy, the herdswoman of her Cultured Llamas, has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Kent and won the Society of Authors’ Tom-Gallon Trust Award in 2015. After living for several years in Teynham, where she wrote in a shed looking out on boats on an orchard, she now lives in the Medway Towns, and looks out on boats on the river. Maria will be reading poetry from strange fruits (Cultured Llama, 2011) and There are Boats on the Orchard (Cultured Llama, 2017); and stories from As Long as it Takes (Cultured Llama, 2014)

Anna Maconochie is a London writer whose stories have appeared in the Erotic Review, the Dublin Review and the Bitter Oleander. Anna will be reading from her short story collection, Only the Visible Can Vanish, (Cultured Llama, 2016)

Ben Barton has been nominated for the Canterbury Poet of the Year Award and the erbacce-prize, and will be reading from The Hospital (Cultured Llama, 2018). Also a film artist, Ben’s film Stella Erratica was funded by the late David Bowie, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He lives in Folkestone with his husband and son, beside the North Downs.

Mark Holihan is a former Californian, now settled in Kent. He returns to Words on Waves, after a very popular first appearance with The Scatterlings, to read again from his Cultured Llama collection, There Are No Foreign Lands.

img_0102THURSDAY 7 MARCH 2019 @ 6.45pm:

On the eve of International Women’s Day, Words on Waves is proud to bring you The Rockhoppers  (Maggie Harris, Mel Perry & Jackie Biggs) along with songwriter Jacqui Selby, Luigi Marchini, Sally Turner and Roger Tooth. A fascinating mix as ever!

THURSDAY 4 APRIL 2019 @ 6.45pm:

Our magnificent April line-up includes Jessica Taggart, Matt Chamberlain, Neelam Saredia Brayley, Rosemary McLeish, Sarah Jenkin, and Angela Dye.

img_e0074And on THURSDAY 2 MAY 2019 @ 6.45pm, publisher & performance company Live Canon comes down the Thames from Greenwich to Whitstable for our second publisher’s showcase, bringing us journalist & author Mark Huband, Nancy Hynes, Andrew George & Tessa Foley. 

See you there!

Words on Waves is back! Join us on 10 Jan at 6.45pm

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Chase away the winter chills with beautiful writing at WORDS ON WAVES at Harbour Books in Whitstable, Kent. Our readers include Steve Kendall,  former life model Carol DeVaughan reading from her new poetry collection Life Class (Oversteps Books, 2018), Wordsmithery publisher and poet Barry Fentiman Hall, Christopher Hopkins, Angela Dye & Caroline Millar with something new, if there’s time, from Rosie herself.

Book your seat by phoning 01227264011 or calling into the shop.

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Words on Waves, Whitstable: next year’s dates

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Words on Waves started in July this year in HARBOUR BOOKS, WHITSTABLE as a montly space for writers to read their work, published and in progress, to local literature fans. Writers come from far and wide and the combination of excellent words, a warm, relaxed atmosphere and Prosecco provided by the shop means it has a tendency to sell out fast.

On THURSDAY 10 JANUARY 2019 @ 6.45pm, our readers include Steve Kendall,  former life model Carol DeVaughan reading from her new poetry collection Life Class (Oversteps Books, 2018), Wordsmithery publisher and poet Barry Fentiman Hall, Christopher Hopkins, Angel Cakes Dye & Caroline Millar with something new, if there’s time, from me.

On THURSDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2019 @ 6.45pm, you can hear Callum Beesley, Clair Meyrick, Sam Rapp, and a showcase of these four writers published by Cultured Llama in Rochester:

Maria C. McCarthy, the herdswoman of her Llamas, has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Kent and won the Society of Authors’ Tom-Gallon Trust Award in 2015. After living for several years in Teynham, where she wrote in a shed looking out on boats on an orchard, she now lives in the Medway Towns, and looks out on boats on the river. Maria will be reading poetry from strange fruits (Cultured Llama, 2011) and There are Boats on the Orchard (Cultured Llama, 2017); and stories from As Long as it Takes (Cultured Llama, 2014)

Anna Maconochieis’ stories have appeared in the Erotic Review, the Dublin Review and the Bitter Oleander. Anna will be reading from her short story collection, Only the Visible Can Vanish, (Cultured Llama, 2016)

Ben Barton has been nominated for the Canterbury Poet of the Year Award and the erbacce-prize, and will be reading from The Hospital (Cultured Llama, 2018). Also a film artist, Ben’s film Stella Erratica was funded by the late David Bowie, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mark Holihan is a former Californian, now settled in Kent. He returns to Words on Waves after a very popular first appearance, to read again from his Cultured Llama collection, There Are No Foreign Lands.

STOP PRESS – The Rockhoppers are booked for Thursday 7 March, 2019 and Live Canon have offered to showcase four of their writers on Thursday 4 April 2019!

Book your seat by phoning 01227264011 or calling into the shop.

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Bright Scarf at the Poetry Cafe

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I risked taking my camera out in yesterday’s downpour to take a picture of our Bright Scarf name ‘in lights’ in Covent Garden, in case that was as good as it got. But people crowded into the Poetry Cafe’s event space downstairs in a wonderful mood with more chairs being found and drinks being bought in the refurbished Cafe bar. Poetry evenings are usually fun, especially for a poetry addict like me, but some events have a synergy which makes them more than usually exciting and this was one of them.IMG_E3719

Huge thanks to the fantastic audience who turned out, old friends and new, and to all the other Bright Scarf poets for their great readings: Dominic James, Colin Pink and Quentin Cowdry. Peter Pegnall, the founder and heart of Bright Scarf, is battling a chest infection and had to stay at home but special thanks to Colin for stepping in at the last minute. IMG_3726

Thanks too to Irena Hill for organising the event so seamlessly and to all the Cafe staff in that great venue. With the wind and rain beating down outside, we felt as if we were sheltering on the high seas so here is my encore from last night, something to take us back to warmer days…IMG_2914

Hurray for independent book shops

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like Harbour Books in Whitable, one of my favourite places in all the world. It’s caught the attention of yesterday’s Observer newspaper here:

“We try to bring the community together with our events. We often host book launches and discussions with our wonderful local authors and they support us in turn. We also have a monthly poetry and prose night called Words on Waves,” says bookseller Olivia Rosenthal.

Congratulations to Keith and all his lovely staff – you do a wonderful job.

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Words on Waves at Harbour Books

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Harbour Books is a fantastic independent book shop in Whitstable and it gave us writers space for something magical last night. Since July, the shop’s monthly Words on Waves events have given local writers a place to read their work in progress as well as published work, with a broad range of subject matter and styles of writing.

Last night it was mostly the poets’ turn and the air hummed with marvellous words from all over the world. An accidental common theme emerged about the roots of our upbringing and the considerable pleasures of living where we choose.

Mostly that was (of course) Kent. Our magnificent line-up included The Scatterlings (Sue Rose from Herne Bay, Mark Holihan, a Californian now settled in Broadstairs and Geraldine Paine from Ospringe, near Faversham), novelist Malcom Walton, prize-winning poet Christopher Hopkins (from Wales, now living in Kent), Annie Harrison, Clair Meyrick and, from London, Nancy Mattson (originally Canadian) and Mike Bartholomew-Biggs.

The combination was outstanding and, as host, I had the pleasure of watching waves of hilarity, excitement and shared grief sweep over us all. The evening was a sell-out so if you’d like to join us next month – Thursday 4 October – it would be wise to contact the shop to save your place. Please call 01227 264011 or drop by.

Enormous thanks to everyone at Harbour Books – Keith, Olivia, Arthur – for everything they do to make these events such a pleasure and success. It’s a privilege for me to be involved.

OYSTERS on the north Kent coast

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by Rosie Johnston

Sapphires in a hurry-flutter:

two dozen starlings

rush to Sheppey.

 

Seaweed garlands roll on the high

tide, full

moon’s tangle of jet and jade.

 

The sea cradles me; my

best mother.

I roll and kick like a baby.

 

Ripples brush your naked shoulder,

a sibilance,

a sparrow’s whisper.

 

My skin, dulled under hospital lights,

exults

in blustery sunshine.

 

Twilight wraps blankets of

crimson glory

around this evening’s shoulders.

 

Sky is honeyed mango slivers,

dark rum-soaked,

with pomegranate seeds.

 

Laughter waltzes with garlic prawns,

jives with olives,

pirouettes with wine.

 

Between the bowls and candlelight

stretch moments

of perfect contentment.

 

Low tide takes its muted leave –

soft pools

marooned while oystercatchers play.

 

Whitstable, harbour of tangible

happiness:

peace glides into dock.

 

Where sea and sky merge in a

thousand pinks

aligns the mind’s horizon.

 

This fresh day. Let’s shuck it

open, feel

gusto pour between our fingers.

 

I read this in Harbour Books, Whitstable at our first Words on Waves event last month. It’s had such lovely feedback that it’s here for you to enjoy too.

We’re meeting again tonight at 6.45pm.

Happy writing!