The following poets and collections have been shortlisted by judges Simon Armitage, Colette Bryce and Penelope Shuttle for the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize 2009:
| Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin |
The Sun Fish |
Gallery |
| Fred D’Aguiar |
Continental Shelf |
Carcanet |
| Jane Draycott |
Over |
Carcanet |
| Philip Gross |
The Water Table |
Bloodaxe |
| Sinéad Morrissey |
Through the Square Window |
Carcanet |
| Sharon Olds |
One Secret Thing |
Cape |
| Alice Oswald |
Weeds & Wild Flowers |
Faber |
| Christopher Reid |
A Scattering |
Areté |
| George Szirtes |
The Burning of the Books and Other Poems |
Bloodaxe |
| Hugo Williams |
West End Final |
Faber |
At next month’s Poetry Room from 6.15pm-8pm on Tuesday 3 November at Blackwell’s bookshop, Newcastle, we will be looking at sample poems (as many as physically possible!) from the poets on this list. For free downloads of the sample poems, please go to:
www.poetrybookshoponline.com/tsereadinggrouppoems.php
We will also be bringing print-outs of the poems along with us.
There’s something to suit all tastes, so enjoy! And looking forward to seeing you (new-comers as well as familiar faces as ever very welcome!) in November.
Happy National Poetry Day! This year’s theme is ‘heroes and heroines’ and there was plenty of evidence of both in Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl – based on Mario Petrucci’s poetry collection of the same name. This month at The Poetry Room we gathered at Byker’s wonderful Star & Shadow cinema to watch the film and discuss our reactions.
Petrucci’s book Heavy Water looks at the immediacy of the Chernobyl explosion and its aftermath, concentrating on the lives of ‘ordinary’ people – from those charged with clearing up the site such as fire-fighters and miners, to family members separated by irradiation. The film features images of the contaminated zones as well as archival footage pre-the disaster when the town of Pripyat was celebrated for Chernobyl and showcased by the Soviet Union as a town of the future. The poetry, voiced by actors, is read in conjunction with these often searing images – although, in our discussion afterwards, some people felt that a recurring shot of a disembodied doll’s head was clichéd.
Reaction to the film was mixed. While appreciating the significance of the story and the importance of bringing it to as wide an audience as possible, a few people felt that the images inevitably upstaged the poetry and ‘there was too much going on’ for the poems to make themselves heard. One woman who had been very moved by the collection felt strangely unmoved by the film and questioned the editing of certain poems. It was generally agreed that the film was – and should be – a separate animal from the book. Many people who hadn’t had a chance to buy the collection said they would do so now having watched the film – good news for poets and poetry!
We ended with a general discussion of the issues around tackling public trauma in poetry and the poet’s legitimacy in doing so. Petrucci was inspired to write about Chernobyl after reading a book of survivors’ experiences where a woman asks: ‘Where our are intellectuals? Writers? Philosophers? Why are they silent?’ It was felt that the poet’s response in writing Heavy Water was a humane and justifiable one.
Catch Mario Petrucci reading at Durham Literature Festival at 8pm on Saturday 31 October at The Gala Theatre, Durham as part of Durham Literature Festival. See www.bookfestival.org.uk for further details.
On Tuesday 3 November from 6.15-8pm we’re back in our old stamping ground of Blackwell’s bookshop, Newcastle, looking at the work of poets short-listed for this year’s TS Eliot Prize. The list will be announced on October 22 and we’ll be handing out a selection of poems by these writers for discussion. Watch this space for more information. It was great to see a lot of new faces at our film-night, as ever all are very welcome. Have a great month and see you in November!
