Due to the Covid-19 emergency, Trowbridge Stanza is no longer meeting face to face but please keep in touch for news of online meetings. In the meantime, here is news from our most recent letter:

As you might know, Rishi Dastidar and Lisa Kelly were scheduled to come to read for us in April.  Rishi’s publisher, Nine Arches Press, has offered members of Trowbridge Stanza a discount code if any of you would like to buy his book online, postage free until the end of March.  Here’s the link for the book – the discount code (for 25% off) is LOVEPOETRY – you can use this code for ALL books at Nine Arches Press until the end of the month.

Rishi has written this blog about his book Saffron Jack to explain more about how and why he wrote it. “Using an innovative form, Rishi Dastidar boldly updates Kipling’s The Man Who Would be King to ask how can live together if we exile the most vulnerable in our societies and deny them a place to belong.”  Luke Kennard says of the book: “Urgent, caustically funny and provocative – compulsory and deeply enjoyable reading.”

Lisa Kelly‘s debut collection is A Map Towards Fluency published by Carcanet.  Carcanet has sent the following discount code which you can use on April 4 for 25% off Lisa’s book – KELLY25.  In the meantime, here is a film of Lisa reading a poem from the book.

One final thing to say is that Drawing Projects UK has closed its doors to the public for the time being but is investigating ways of sharing work online.  More information here.   Miranda’s Cafe is also closed but Miranda is going to be backing bread, cakes and other items and offering a delivery service (minimum spend £20) mirandacatering@mail.com.

 

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Lisa Kelly‘s first collection, A Map Towards Fluency, was published by Carcanet in 2019. Her poems have appeared in Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches Press) and Carcanet’s New Poetries VII. Her pamphlets are Philip Levine’s Good Ear (Stonewood Press) and Bloodhound (Hearing Eye). She sometimes hosts poetry evenings at the Torriano Meeting House in London, and is the Chair of Magma Poetry.

Rishi Dastidar’s poetry has been published by the Financial Times and BBC amongst many others. He is a fellow of The Complete Works, a consulting editor at The Rialto magazine, a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, and chair of writer development organization Spread The Word. A poem from his debut collection Ticker-tape was included in The Forward Book of Poetry 2018. A pamphlet, the break of a wave, was published by Offord Road Books in 2019, and he is also editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (Nine Arches Press). His second collection, Saffron Jack, will be published in March 2020 by Nine Arches Press.

Trowbridge Stanza is a friendly, inclusive group,  a mixture of published and unpublished poets.

Trowbridge Stanza is a monthly poetry group, a Poetry Society Stanza, which meets every first Saturday (first Saturday of each month, 2-4pm) at Drawing Projects UK, Bridge House, Trowbridge.  Poetry Society Stanzas are poetry groups run voluntarily by members of The Poetry Society.  Trowbridge Stanza is a friendly, inclusive group,  a mixture of published and unpublished poets.  We read and talk about contemporary poetry, read and comment on each other’s work in progress, organise open-mic events and guest readers, and we perform our work at different venues. If you would like more information about joining our group, please email me josephinecorcoran13@gmail.com.  You can also sign up for a monthly newsletter  https://tinyletter.com/JosephineCorcoran

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SOME PAST EVENTS

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Feedback – Read what people have said about Trowbridge Stanza here.

On Saturday, December 1, we enjoyed a wonderful reading by  Bloodaxe poet Abigail Parry, whose book Jinx was shortlisted for this year’s Forward Prize for Best First Collection.  Abigail read from Jinx, and other work, and took part in a lively and fascinating Q & A about her writing life, answering questions about this year’s Forward Prize, commissions, her route to publication, her motivations for writing, and more.  Audience members listened attentively to Abigail’s poems, asked brilliant questions and read fantastic poems at the open-mic.  It was wonderful to receive many appreciative tweets and messages after the event!

 

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