Betsy Trotwood, Tim Wells and Tim Turnbull

Last night I went to a great night of poetry, hosted by Niall O'Sullivan with poetry from Wayne Smith, Tim Wells, Annie Freud and Tim Turnbull. Presented by Donut Press, we were treated to fantastic poetry, from the established, the new, and the forthcoming authors and performers of Donut.

I've been on workshops with Wayne and Annie, and been on the bill with Annie at The Cellar, and I've got an interview with Tim Wells coming up on the show, but this was a great opportunity for me to secure more interviews and performances for future podcasts. I'll not count my chickens before they've hatched, just to say Mr Turnbull agreed to get together the next time he's allowed leave Scotland and get together to record something!

Episode 23 now available

This weeks episode of the podcast has poetry from the Hydropods, Mort and John Citizen.

John also gives us an interview, which is a rare thing for Mr Citizen, we talk about performance poetry and what it means to him to have a poem on the National Curriculum, so any English Teachers out there pay close attention! Of note for English teachers too, in an upcoming show I interview George Ttoouli, of the Poetry Society who gives us his views on the National Curriculum and poetry for young people, and how the Foyles Young Poet competition helps the process. The competition is now open, for more details see the Poetry Society web page.

I kind of hoped that this episode, and the interview with George would somehow be used as a teaching tool, maybe someone could use the interview or the poem for educational purposes.

I know my podcast carries an 'Explicit' tag, but that's really a catch-all for any swearing that occurs, I hope it wouldn't put people off.

Interviewing George Ttoouli

George is the Education Projects Co-ordinator for the Poetry Society and sat down with me yesterday to conduct an interview. A charming and well spoken young man, George is involved with some very high profile, and very important projects that the Poetry Society runs. Rise, Foyles Young Poet and Poets in Schools, all aimed at increasing appreciation and awareness of poetry to young people. George comes across as quite passionate about this subject and, in my opinion, shows us that it's not enough to sit down and write good poetry for poetry to survive, but hard work behind the scenes, organising, lobbying government and hard work that will keep a thriving appreciation of poetry and poets for the future.

I'm going to do a quick edit of the interview, and get it out early (pushing back some of the other interviews and poets I've got lined up) because I think this is the most worthy piece I've recorded yet.

The Podcast at the Poetry Library

I've been to visit the Poetry Library at the South Bank, and have been asked to submit copies of the show, for the library to include in their archives!

Feels like the show has come of age, there's me sitting alongside archive tapes from the BBC, the missing John Betjeman recordings, Philip Larkin - and of course, all the poets now appearing in the podcast - so for that taste of immortality, keep the submissions coming!

Interviewing Tim Wells

Tim Wells, seemingly the East End Godfather of poetry, has agreed to do an interview with me, and I'm off down to Shoreditch to meet him tomorrow night.
As usual, the extent of my research into my subjects goes no further than a quick Google of their name, and if it's a Smith or a White, than I add 'Poetry' to the boolean search terms!
It turns up a lot of info, you know - one quirky bit of connections is Tim once shared a stage with Stewart Homes, who happens to be a cult, once left wing, underground author, and a school friend of my girlfriend - she has nearly every pamphlet and book he's ever brought out.

Stewart Homes, amongst other things, is also part of the London Psychogeographical Institute, East London Section, a subject that fascinates me, I've talked in the christmas edition of the podcast about Will Self's latest book, and the talk recently given by Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair about psychogeography, which ties back to my own area of study, Architecture. Read Sinclairs Hawksmoor book, and then read Alan Moores From Hell - Sir Christoper Wren has a lot to answer to!

Back to Tim. An east end, ex-skinhead, possibly a merchant banker (and not in the rhyming slang sense) poet, who regularly tours America teaching them English, a contemporary of John Cooper Clarke, friend of John Hegley and Roddy Lumsden, whose poetry is both gruff and earthy, yet storytelling and observational in the extreme. This is one of those interviews I've been working towards with this show, and I'm pleased and honoured that he's agreed to do it.

Episode 22 now available to download

Featuring poetry from Joe Hakim and Kayo Chingonyi.

Joe, from Hull, I've seen a couple of times around on the poetry circuit and has a very strong performance style and poetic content, this single poem from him, I think showcases his work, but I have a few more of his poems and will put out a few together in a future show. Joe tells me he has also been signed to Apples and Snakes as part of their 'Incubate' programme and is playing the Latitude festival in July as well .

Kayo, who also contributes this episodes interview, had me in tears with a poem of his, when I saw him at an event, nearly two years ago. Kayo, a winner of the Rise Poetry Slam in 2003, has been working hard with his poetry and delivers in a sensual style, what can only be described as heartfelt tales. Keep an eye out for this boy.

More info on Joe can be had at www.thisisull.com

www.myspace.com/joehakimrecordings.

and you can find more about Kayo at http://www.myspace.com/requiem87