Reading at The Troubadour

Reading at The Troubadour in London last night with Yvonne Green, Julia Deakin and other past winners of the Poetry Business Award organised by Peter and Ann Sansom of Smith/Doorstop. It was a particularly special night for one reader, River Wolton, because her collection, The Purpose of Your Visit, had been printed that very day. Much of her poetry is political and I found this really interesting because many poets, including myself, shy away from current events and from issues. The fear is that issues make for bad poetry. But I think River has found a way to write good poetry about issues. You can read an example of her political poetry here in Magma. River is currently Derbyshire Poet Laureate.