Follow these links to find out some of the things that went on during my Laureateship in 2011-2012…
A LITERARY JOURNEY ROUND KENT’S GARDENS – This has been my creative project during the Laureate Scheme – you can read about it more here. I did imagine that I might be floating round gardens in the sun, but well, this hasn’t been the right year for it! What I’ve discovered though has been some fantastic fantastic stories – the topiary WW1 tank, a hidden shell grotto, the garden owner who was saved from an attacking lion by his folded up copy of Punch magazine, and how gasworks were supposed to be good for asthma. I’ve been writing a literary response to each garden I’ve visited, and trying to put the journeys between them into sense too. It’s highly personal, but gives a picture of Kent today. And also dispels the myth of what exactly might be the English bit in an English garden. I’ll be giving my first reading of the work in progress at the Canterbury Festival – details here, and you can go on a virtual tour with me here.
THE WISE WORD SCHEME - This was the main formal part of the Laureate Scheme. Teaching students from Canterbury Christ Church University and MA in Writing Students from the University of Kent were paired to give writing workshops to community groups under the theme – Wise Words. The resulting anthology is now available here, and you can read about the launch here.
KENT WRITERS – It’s been my pleasure to collate information about many of the Kent writers. You can see the growing list here, and new writers are being added every week so do keep popping back.
HOMEGROWN - during one magical sunny weekend in October, the four parks in Canterbury were the focus for some gentle interventions by a team involving me, the artist, Wendy Daws and the Reauthoring Project. Here’s a little of what happened…
And now I’ll leave you with a selection of some of the favourite words of Kent writers so far – proof that we are nothing if not eclectic…
Civilised, love, lyrical, cathartic, approved, endorphin, physical, spirit, dodecahedron, sedge, Himalaya, book, spring, Coleridge, pyromaniac, SUCK; COPPICE; HOBIDAL; RUST, dreecht, eejit, haver, erse, elucidate, mofussil, gremolata, bombazine, slither, limoncello, Anna, miracle, deceit, love, Vamonos con la musica al otro lado de la calle, disingenuous, potting shed, aplomb, pudding, Naptime, Mummy, munificent, rococo, vervaine, I love you, Hello Mummy, I will not give up, Can you perform for us?, We’ll give you a fee, oblivion, melancholy, adroit, popinjay, usurp, blubber, fiddlesticks, mantequilla (butter in Spanish), soliloquy, miscreant, Esox lucius, Legato, Tibouchina, Wildebeest, Scrofipascus, possibility, reflection, distillation, dance, aubergine, knuckle, heliotrope, rareripe, crinoline, splay, curl, curmudgeon, azamacaracadoo, cwtch, rhythm, soliloquy, Bougainvillea …
