Books
New poem
‘A bird i catch || to eat’
Second prize in the Mslexia Poetry Contest,
Read it in the print version of
Mslexia, no.93.
‘Language flies around the page … and
finally lands as a small bird.’
— Judge Pascale Petit
On Instagram
Burmese poet Ko Ko Thett becomes a human scroll during our performance at a collaborative event celebrating the Japanese UK Poetry Exchange (JUPE) at the National Writers Centre. I read my tanka sequence, Forging, off the scroll, & he then sat on the stage & nailed it with I don’t want to be a Samurai.
Other poets included UEA poetry professor Tiffany Atkinson and lit critic Jeremy Noel-Todd, & stunning Japanese poets Fukudapero & Kyoko Yoshida. Organiser: poet, avant-grade artist & Euro Poetry Festival founder Steven J. Fowler. #poetry #tanka #flowerslikebluegrass @fukudapero @colinjherd @jntod @writerscentre @thettsusan @uealdc @stevenjfowler
I'm in this on Friday with Burmese poet Ko Ko Thett. It's a UK-Japan collaboration in Norwich at the National Writers Centre. Just found out that fellow readers include my UEA MA poetry professors Tiffany Atkinson and Jeremy Noel-Todd. #no pressure. Arghh. Luckily Ko is published by the same Singapore publisher as me, @ethosbooks, & is very chill. I'm reading a new tenka sequence about a know-maker & Ko responds with his poem, I don't want to be a samurai. @writerscentre #poetry @uealdc
If you are in Norwich, UK, and seek amusement this afternoon, shelter from muggy weather, or urgent info on the end of the world, pop by Oxfam. #poetry
Saying goodbye to fellow MA Poetry students Salma Yusuf @expressing_through_salummy of Kenya, and Olivia Tuck @bebravemycaptain of Swindon, with a picnic in the park. We hand in our dissertations by Sep 1. #norwich #poetry
Happy to say that I've got a poem, 'chickadee', in the next issue of bath magg (described by The Writers' Compass as home to the UK's best new writing).
bath magg!!
Thanks, you amazing editorial team of Issue 10.
The online launch on Sept 1, 7pm British Summer Time (Singapore, sept 2 2am; NZ, 6am sept 2).
Hear poets in the issue including Chen Chen, (yes!) and 19-year-old rising star, Eric Yip of Hongkong.
And fellow Poetry MA scholar @wordsbyperla is in there, too! Super-pleased for Perla.
@bebravemycaptain @uealdc @thepoetrysociety @thebookhive @thesocietyofauthors @nzsocietyofauthors
#poetry #norwich #LossAdjustment
Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bath-magg-issue-10-launch-tickets-401516997147?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb
Made it to the top of Dorset’s highest point today,279m Lewesdon Hill. Magnificent beech trees give shade all the way on a hot summer’s day. It was once an lron Age fort and was the site of one of the Armada beacons in 1588.
I love Thomas Hardy country. #wessex #farfromthemaddingcrowd #poetry #dorset
Check out this new podcast complete with poem prompt from me. @poetrynonstop in the UK discusses my collection Sign Language for the Death of Reason and how to address difficult experiences through poetry. You can buy my book at The Book Hive in Norwich or @booksactually or @kinokuniya_singapore. The interviewer is poet @patrickwiddess who has recently shared about his late-adult diagnosis of autism. #podcast #poetry #mentalhealth @bebravemycaptain @expressing_through_salummy @uealdc
At last night’s Ako Caine Prize for African writers’ shortlist celebration at the National Writers Centre in Norwich. (Salma Yusof, Linda Temienor-Vincent, Benjamina, me and Chisom😁) Great to meet the shortlisters, & other writers including @LiTemienor who took this new photo. Olivia Tuck @expressing_through_salummy @WritersCentre National Centre for Writing #norwich #caineprze #writing Ldc Uea
Plus I met a fellow New Zealander, talented scriptwriter Jonathan Massey from Tauranga, who happily was also running the bar. #kiwi
The shortlist:
* ‘Collector of Memories' by Joshua Chizoma (Nigeria) published in Afritondo Prize Anthology, Afritondo, Nigeria, (2021).
* Read ‘Collector of Memories’ here�
* ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ by Nana-Ama Danquah (Ghana) published in Accra Noir, Akashic Books, USA, (2020)/ Cassava Republic Press, UK and the Commonwealth (2020).
* Read ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ here�
* ‘A Double-Edged Inheritance' by Hannah Giorgis (Ethiopia) published in Addis Ababa Noir, Akashic Books, USA, (2020)/ Cassava Republic Press, UK and the Commonwealth (2020).
* Read ‘A Double-Edged Inheritance’ here�
* ‘Five Years Next Sunday’ by Idza Luhumyo (Kenya) co-published in Disruption: New Short Fiction From Africa by Catalyst Press/Short Story Day Africa, Kenya/South Africa, (2020).
* Read ‘Five Years Next Sunday‘ here�
* ‘The Labadi Sunshine Bar' by Billie McTernan (Ghana) published in Accra Noir, Akashic Books, USA, (2020)/Cassava Republic Press, UK and the Commonwealth (2020).
* Read ‘The Labadi Sunshine Bar’ here
Nice review of brilliant NZ poet Tayi Tibble in the UK's Guardian (see below). I was lucky enough to be in Tayi's class in the MA in Creative Writing 2017 at IIML, Victoria University of Wellington. Was writing a memoir (Loss Adjustment) at the time, but the poets in the class were a huge influence - and I'm now doing an MA in Poetry at UEA. The review also includes Caroline Bird, so Tayi is in amazing company. #poetry @bebravemycaptain @sophiepoetry @sam_duckor_jones @_claireoloughlin @cyrilsingstheblues @uealdc Here's the review:https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/01/the-best-recent-poetry-review-roundup
Gorgeous cover, yeah?! Available for pre-order, this anthology includes a poem by me, End Notes. It's compiled by the Creative Writing Society of the University of East Anglia, UK. My thanks to Egg Box Publishing.
End Notes is informed by Singapore poet Hamid Roslan's parsetreeforestfire, and by feedback from fellow MA students Oliver Shrouder, Ella Finch, and Olivia Tuck among others about Tara Bergin's Notes from the Arboretum, & Nabokov's Pale Fire.
It looks at personal, linguistic, and sovereign state identity, and the tension between creative and academic writing. #poetry @ueacws @uealdc @bebravemycaptain @elsiefinch_99 @oshrouder @oliverxhancock @expressing_through_salummy @eneidaescribe @marbledmayhem @theherbariumprints
Order it at: https://www.eggboxpublishing.com/shop
Nice to get a mention in the latest e-zine of The Poetry Society. #poetry #signlanguageforthedeathofreason #amwriting
Ethos Books writers in the UK. Burmese writer Ko Ko Thett gave a wonderful workshop on poetry and trauma that I was fortunate to attend at the UK’s national writers’ centre today. He is the author of Picking off new Shoots will not stop the Spring; & I am the author of Loss Adjustment - both published by Ethos Books, Singapore. @writerscentre @mekongreview @ethosbooks @hughespeg #LossAdjustment #poetry #cityofliterature
With Portuguese creative writing professor Dr Manuel Portela (who is also a specialist in translating Pessoa) & Irish poet Sal Sinclair at Silves, Faro, Portugal. Manuel is setting up a new CW course. https://www.uc.pt/fluc/ensino/2ciclo/flyers_2021_22/escrita_creativa.pdf
At the Cambridge Spring Literary Festival @camlitfest today, after having a book signed by UK poet laureate Simon Armitrage. There the great man is behind me! i was with poet & UEA PhD student Viv Kemp. Simon read a new poem - on the Ukraine. Stunning. And was kind enough to chat with me about a special poem of his that means alot to me. Other photo shows Viv with poet Katrina Scoffin, who is doing an MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths. #poetry #poetlaureate #simonarmitage @vivmkemp @uealdc
Extracts of mosswood, thyme ... and Loss Adjustment. My book on life and loss is part of this wonderful Aesop Women's Library collection in Singapore.
Especially pleased to be between Notes after Tarawih and The Orchid Folios. Thank you!
Ethos on their site explain how the library works: 'Just some of our books available at the Aesop Women's Library ✨ From tomorrow (20th April) until the 24th, head down to the Aesop MBS and VivoCity stores to bask in Aesop's signature scents while you browse the shelves packed with local and Southeast Asian literature. Pick one complimentary book to take home with you and savour in your own time, no purchase required.'
#AesopWomensLibrary
@ethosbooks @nurhappening @mokzining #books #poetry
On April 14 wherever you are in the world it is the 8th anniversary of the death of Victoria McLeod, mine and Malcolm’s only child, aged 17. Skye is one of Vic’s middle names & she always wanted to visit there. I am here now, & today (the 14th in the UK) i will visit near Dunvegan, ancestral seat of the McLeods. Her late grandfather Jack was at one point head of the South Island Nz clan association. Thanks to those who lit candles -and sent photos including @bebravemycaptain - RIP, my shining light & reason for living. RIP Vic’s beloved grandma, Sheila.@malpixo @shazzm @muunez #poetry #LossAdjustment #signlanguageforthedeathofreason #pleasestaymovementsg @lifemattersnz
At London Book Fair with @jacarandaliteraryagency, writer @kavitha.m.rao & and UEA students including @byadrija Adrija Ghosh; @expressing_through_salummy Salma Yusuf; @bebravemycaptain Olivia Tuck; @oshrouder Oliver Shrouder #LBF22 #books Pic: @oliverxhancock @litsocuea @ueacws @londonbookfair
Honoured to be a part of #anankemag's #womeninliteraturefestival . Many great discussions are lined up. Join me on April 1 at 12.45 pm UK time (singapore 7.45pm, NZ 12.45am next day) for a panel on "Globalisation of the English Language & Linguistic Identity", including friend and Singaporean writer Akshita Nanda @akshitan. Later, at 3.15pm Uk, singapore 10.15) I'm in a conversation about Women translating genders, social structure, hegemony. #WLF2022 #AnankeWLF2022 #lossadjustment @ayshabaqirauthor @ethosbooks @awapress @uealdc
Go to #anankeWLF2022 on twitter or to their website for links for livestream etc:
http://anankewlf.com/
Part of a poetry lightbox event curated by dear poet friend Sarah Scott in Wellington, New Zealand. This piece is by Tessa Scott, who writes: ‘For the next 3 weeks, you can wander down to the corner of Arthur & Cuba in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington and visit my hybrid poem/image "the flowering woman, or, Daphne in Te Aro" in the Thistle Hall Lightbox 🎉 I’m so grateful to poet and curator extraordinaire Sarah Scott @theherbariumprints for the opportunity.’
#poetry #wellington
https://www.thistlehall.org.nz/lightbox
Last Poet Standing event went so well. Poet alex russell @alexrussellisok has my book Sign Language for the Death of Reason like a baby wallaby in his pouch. With UEA poet Olivia Tuck @bebravemycaptain. Tx to organiser @ollywatsonpoet for a great evening at The Last Pub Standing #signlanguageforthedeathofreason #poetry #norwich Raised £30 for Ukraine poets & also got a mention for #LossAdjustment Open mic-ers from UEA were fantastic @uealdc @perlakantarjian