Wednesday 5 March, 5:30pm – 7pm @ The London Archives
Booking Essential
For generations of readers brought up on the poetry of 1914-1918, it may come as a surprise to discover that the Second World War produced any poetry at all. In this talk, Tim Kendall explores the Second World War poets’ relationship with their predecessors and some of the reasons why they have never managed to reach such a wide audience. The Second World War contrived to be both unprecedented and catastrophically familiar; its poets were constantly aware that they inhabited two realms at once, conversing with ghosts as they went to fight a war shadowed by their fathers’ experiences. Struggling with that inheritance, they wrote some of the most important poetry of the century.
Our President Michael Longley has sadly passed away aged 95 years. He was one of Northern Ireland’s foremost contemporary poets, He was the author of many poetry collections, including Angel Hill published in 2017; The Stairwell published in 2015, The Ghost Orchid published in 2012 and The Weather in Japan published in 2000.
He received many awards including the 2015 International Griffin Poetry Prize, the Irish Times Literature Prize for Poetry, the Hawthornden Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Prize. In 2001 he was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Known for using classical allusions to cast provocative light on contemporary concerns—including Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”—Longley’s poetry is also marked by sharp observation of the natural world, deft use of technique, and deeply felt emotion. In a long career covering a range of subject matter he wrote about Homeric literature, jazz and the politics of Northern Ireland.
Reviewing his Selected Poems (1993), War Poets Association’s own Fran Brearton praised in particular Longley’s more political poems, noting his “use of a compassionate yet unsentimental voice, and an attention to detail which restores specificity at a point in history when it is most in danger of being lost in abstraction—numbers, dates, death-tolls counted beyond comprehension.”
John Howlett is doing a talk about the poet, Leonard Clark, whose poems he recently edited. Clark was very good friends with Edmund Blunden – as well as many other poets and writers – so there will be lots of connections to make with the War. If you are local, please come along if you can or else join us ONLINE with the zoom link – below! As well as the talk, there will be free refreshments, discounted, signed copies, and so on.
21 January @ 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Leonard Clark – https://www.fohl.org.uk/event/leonard-clark/
Highgate Library Civic & Cultural Centre Highgate Library Civic & Cultural Centre, Childrens Corner, Croftdown Road, London, United Kingdom
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87634705602
Meeting ID: 876 3470 5602
| Last night the Michael Marks Poetry Awards ceremony was held at the British Library and it was great to see a number of friends there. Pilar and I wanted to share with you the wonderful news that Dare-Gale Press won the Publisher of the Year Award and Nicola Healey won the Poetry Prize, for her pamphlet A Newer Wilderness. Jordi Doce had also been shortlisted for the prize with his Slow Burn, so all in all it was a very exciting landmark occasion for us. |
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| Paul receiving the award from Michael Symmons Roberts, one of the judges |
| There were strong shortlists for both prizes and I enjoyed very much listening to all the entries. It was also a great pleasure to read alongside Jordi Doce from our bilingual edition of his poems. Winning the prizes is a real encouragement to us to be even more adventurous as we plan for the future. We will announce a number of exciting new titles shortly. In the meantime, all best wishes for Christmas and the New Year from us both. Paul www.daregale.com |
| Dear Friends, Pilar and I wanted to let you know the very exciting news that not only has Dare-Gale Press been shortlisted for the Michael Marks Publisher of the Year Award, but that Nicola Healey and Jordi Doce are both on the shortlist for the Poetry Prize. |
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| Nicola’s debut pamphlet A Newer Wilderness heralds a brilliant new talent. And Jordi’s Slow Burn is a deeply moving and subtly beautiful sequence, which I had the great pleasure of translating. We are really proud to have published them both. Please keep your fingers crossed for the awards ceremony and reading at the British Library on the 9th. And even better, come and join us – it’s free and you can book your ticket here. The Michael Marks Awards are given in partnership with the British Library, Wordsworth Grasmere, Harvard University and The TLS. All best wishes Paul www.daregale.com |
We have information about a new publication.
I am a widely published poet from Newcastle. My audio piece, a sequence of poems titled The Stone Men of Newcastle, was recently broadcast on BBC Introducing Arts with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 6 Music, and is now available on BBC Sounds until the 7th of June. I was wondering if you would be willing to promote The Stone Men of Newcastle on the War Poets Association website, newsletter, social media, or any other appropriate channels you may have?
The Stone Men of Newcastle is a sequence of poems about the city’s statues and their place in contemporary Newcastle. The audio piece features poems that reflect on war memorials, including ‘The Response 1914’ and the statue of St George and the Dragon at Eldon Square, and war poetry, specifically the work of Sidney Keyes. It was commissioned by New Creatives, a talent development scheme supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts, and delivered by Tyneside Cinema. The sequence was performed by prolific Geordie voice actor Dan Pye, and stage and screen actress Stacey Ghent. The lead audio production partner was Naked Productions. I have attached a press pack with full details of the audio piece.
Here is a link to the programme on BBC Sounds:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0016ybf (The Stone Men of Newcastle is featured 4-18 minutes into the programme)
I gain distribution rights to the piece on the 15th of June 2022, so if you would be interested in publishing the audio piece directly, instead of, or in addition to, promoting the BBC programme, I can send you the audio file for publication from this date. I can also send accompanying print versions of the poems if you would like to publish one alongside the audio piece.
My previous work has often engaged with war poetry; I won the Poetry Society’s Timothy Corsellis Young Critics Prize 2018 for my essay on Second World War poetry by Sidney Keyes, John Jarmain, and Henry Reed, and my poem ‘Dona Nobis Pacem (for Britten’s War Requiem)’, responding to Wilfred Owen’s poetry and the War Requiem by Benjamin Britten it inspired, was published in The Wilfred Owen Association Journal.
If you have any questions, or would like further information, I am happy to correspond further. Many thanks.
War Poetry Review 2021
The new copy of the War Poetry Review is now available to members only. As with all other editions access is via the War Poetry Review link above or the link in the menu bar above which will take you to the password access page. To get the password please contact David Worthington, who will happily provide the password to all paid up members.
This year’s Review is full of excellent articles and poems. Essays include Charles Mundye on Wilfred Owen in Scarborough and Fran Brearton on Irish Soldier Poets of the First World War. Leo van Bergen writes about the extraordinary exhibition ‘War/Raw’ by Dutch artist Tonie van Marle. There is a profile by John Howlett of the Second World War RAF poet John Pudney, who was extremely famous during the war for his poem about a fighter pilot, ‘For Johnny’. We have poems by Milena Williamson, Chris Hunter and Alexander Thymmons. Most exciting of all we are publishing for the first time a previously unseen poem by Ivor Gurney, which is why we feature him on the cover of this year’s journal.
Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War
The Making of Frank Prewett
Joy Porter
Please follow the link below for a 35% discount code from Bloomsbury which you may wish to use if you are interested in buying Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War.
The War Poets Association had an evening of reading poems from the First World War.
Readers included Michael Longley, Edna Longley, Tim Kendall, Bel Mooney, Fran Brearton, Steve Douglas, Antony Owen and Paul O’Prey.
Poets featured will include Edward Thomas, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Mary Borden, Robert Graves and Isaac Rosenberg.
The event was held via Zoom on Thursday 26th November.
There is now a link to catch up to this event, for members only, available on the War Poetry Review page to which there is a link in the menu above. Once on the page the whole event, which was recorded, can be watched again – or if you missed it, for the first time.
If you would like to hear more about the War Poets Association and forthcoming events, including an expert-led, poetry-focussed tour of Western Front battlefields in October 2021, please remember to click the ‘keep me updated’ box when you register with Eventbrite. That enables you to receive update emails from the War Poets Association.
If you are not a member of the WPA please consider joining. Go to our website: www.warpoets.org
War Poetry Review 2020
The new copy of the War Poetry Review is now available to members only. As with all other editions access is via the War Poetry Review link in the menu bar above which will take you to the password access page. To get the password please contact David Worthington, who will happily provide the password to all paid up members.
About Us…
The War Poets Association promotes interest in the work, life and historical context of poets whose subject is the experience of war. It is interested in war poets of all periods and nationalities, with a primary focus on conflicts since 1914 – mainly the First World War, Spanish War 1936-39, Second World War and Ireland. There are already many societies dedicated to individual war poets; one of the WPA’s aims is to work with these and others to help promote joint activities and events of mutual interest.
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