I got asked to write a feature on the Symposium for a fanzine! And there’s a journalist coming to my house (!) to interview me today. Given that interest, I wanted to put down dome early thoughts. I’d firstly like to thank everyone for their positive comments about the second Carlisle Poetry Symposium. After the … More Symposium Thoughts 1

This picture was taken six years ago, at the Club Victoria. I was the support act for Zombo Combo, The Limps and The Exiles. I have just watched the DVD of the evening. It may well have been the last ‘proper’ gig I did with a guitar. I remember having only one day to rehearse … More Six Years Ago…

I am still in the post-Symposium thinktank, but I wanted to begin to turn towards ‘Freiraum’ on the 9th of December. Here’s the poster… My phone went tonight. This is an unusual event – as you can probably tell. It transpires that some German journalists want to speak to me about the event – and … More ‘Larkin’ – from ‘Dabbin Houses’

Thank you to Phil Hewitson for taking pictures on Saturday (see below). I’ll post them up over time, with some reflections on the day. Thanks again to everyone for coming: I loved meeting so many wonderful writers for the first time – and meeting many writers again. There is so much to say about our … More Symposium Pictures November 2018

A thousand thank you to everyone who made the second Carlisle Poetry Symposium a great success yesterday. Thank you to the superb featured writers. Thank you to everyone who listened. Thank you to everyone who read at the open mic. And thank you to the ‘AcoustiCombo”, whose setlist is pictured here… and may well be … More Thank you!

One of Carlisle’s greatest kept secrets is its finest post-punk moment: the band Combo Zombo, who were also known as The Wanglers (amongst other things) in their earlier incarnations. The band ran its own label (it’s what you did in the early 80s) and were played on the Peel show. In the 1980s that was … More Zom-Bee-Aye-Eee!

We have a strong line up again for our Symposium this Saturday. I hope you will agree. You’ll notice that there are many open mic slots that can be signed up for on the day. Our featured writers all have longer slots and some space for Q&A, too. You’ll also notice that there is space … More November Symposium Running Order

The last launch of the This Place I Know anthology took place at Maryport last night – at the Roman fort museum. It was great to hear all the poets (below) read their work, and also speak to so many who are coming to the Carlisle Poetry Symposium on Saturday – including some poets who I hadn’t … More Maryport Literature Festival

This poet, Nadine Aisha Jassat, will be reading at the ‘Words by the Water Festival’ this year on March 12th along with Emma McGordon, Steve Kendall, Nicola Jackson and myself.  

One of the Nightjars projects in draft here – it is the combination of two version: a more ‘studio’ version of a song by John Chambers based around a loop created (by John) of some guitar sound I made… or perhaps I should say some guitar sound that was made whilst I was there; the other half … More Skreel View