My poem ‘High Winds’ has just been posted on the Mary Evans Picture Library’s Poems and Pictures blog with a beautiful picture by Sir John Lavery. I’m proud to be paired with Sir John who was born in Belfast like myself. Very many thanks to Gill Stoker who curates this terrific blog so expertly.
I hope those shirt-sleeved sunsets aren’t too far away.
Poems and Pictures – Rosie Johnston (maryevans.com)
This marvellous website – Words for the Wild – features a poem I wrote for my friend Sue after I joined her in walking her son’s dogs along Seasalter’s shore and we all came back laughing, sprayed with salty mud. It’s a wonderful feeling to see it published here, surrounded by these zesty, doggy photographs.
Words for the Wild is a beautiful place to roam if you’re in the mood for some poetry or short fiction about the beauties of natural world. Congratulations, Amanda Oosthuizen and Louise Taylor, for conceiving the idea and bringing it to life so elegantly.
WORDS ON WAVES at HARBOUR BOOKS, WHITSTABLE has been warming our literary hearts this winter and our first spring event is this coming THURSDAY, 4 April 2019 from 6.45pm.
We’re looking forward to a magnificent line-up of local writers: Jessica Taggart, Clair Meyrick, Setareh Ebrahimi, Rosemary McLeish, Angela Dye and Ferretta Wilson, with me as your host.
Words On Waves is a series of monthly spoken word evenings showcasing a variety of writing talent and has a tendency to sell out fast. Writers of all genres 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.
Please book your seat by phoning 01227264011 or calling into the shop.
Whiskey in the Jar is still putting a sway into my step after Thursday evening’s launch at Harbour Books in Whitstable. It was the first time the shop had hosted musicians – Whitstable’s finest ukulele band, The Useless Pluckers – and it was magnificent. A spontaneous line-up of ‘Pluckettes’ formed as a backing group to Mustang Sally and the whole thing was the warmest, most memorable launch I’ve ever had.
Heartfelt thanks to lovely Harbour Books for their hospitality and Prosecco, to the excellent Pluckers and to everyone who came and danced, laughed, sang, chatted, met old and new friends, and bought books. I intruded on the music briefly to introduce Six-Count Jive and will never forget the appreciative silence while I read from it.
Lapwing’s little volumes are hand bound and hand printed on high quality paper in Belfast, close to the Cave Hill. That’s Belfast for you, my home town; it can be an ugly place sometimes but there’s always beauty there too.
At £10 each, they’re the same price as my first Lapwing book in 2010, even though printing costs have doubled since then, so they’re a wee bargain. They’ll be available through the Lapwing website soon – meanwhile I have a few copies to sell direct here, signed if you’d like, for £10 each including p&p. (They will not be available through amazon as its charges and discounts are punitive for small publishers.) Six-Count Jive is dedicated to anyone with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and everyone who loves them. Female and male. I hope this little book might help somebody realise they are not alone and can reach out for help.
On Thursday THIS WEEK we’ll be launching my poetry book SIX-COUNT JIVE (Lapwing Publications) at Harbour Books in Whitstable from 6.30pm. Yesterday a dear friend of mine said, ‘Oh, is that this week?’ Yes, it is 
Whitstable’s finest ukulele band, The Useless Pluckers, will be helping us celebrate.
Harbour Books will be pouring their marvellous Prosecco and if dancing breaks out, we just might jive in the street. You and your friends are all welcome! This is a FREE event.
WORDS ON WAVES at HARBOUR BOOKS, WHITSTABLE has been warming our literary souls this winter and our next fabulous event is this coming THURSDAY, 7 MARCH 2019 from 6.45pm.
On the eve of International Women’s Day, we are 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, with me as your host.
Words On Waves is a series of monthly spoken word evenings showcasing a variety of writing talent and has a tendency to sell out fast. Writers of all genres 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.
Please book your seat by phoning 01227264011 or calling into the shop.
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.
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.
THURSDAY 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.
And 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!
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.
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.
Rosie Johnston 