“… life, literature, and the pursuit of happiness in the famous Troubadour cellar-club, London’s liveliest and best–loved poetry landmark since the 1950s …”
Former US Poet-Laureate Billy Collins on the Troubadour’s 60th birthday as a writer’s café…
Thanks to the zeal of its many managers and promoters, the Troubadour has evolved over its 60 year history from a hidden-away beatnik coffee house to a world famous center for the performance of music and poetry. Its walls have become storied, and if only the place had halls, they would be hallowed. The Troubadour was the scene of the first reading I gave in the UK, and I count myself among the long line of poets who are eager to return and darken its doorway again.
welcome
from Coffee-House Poetry organiser, Anne-Marie Fyfe
News (below, & on ’readings’ & ’classes’ pages) of the exciting Autumn 2016 programme that kicks-off off our 20th epic year of Coffee-House Poetry.
And much more news of 20th annniversary celebrations in Autumn ’16 newsletter including freebies, special guest contributions from the world of the arts, & a free ticket offer for everyone who advance-books Cornucopia, our first Autumn extravaganza with 8 great readers on Mon 17th Oct.
Word’s out already as to who’s won this year’s Troubadour International Poetry Prize(s): do check out winners & winning titles (on prizes page) but you don’t get to see the poems themselves (on poems page) until after Prize Night, Mon 31st Oct, when winners get to read alongside judges Jane Yeh & Glyn Maxwell, & get to collect their prizes!
First workshop & a ‘literary West London’ walk scheduled for mid-Oct (details below) but with more Oct-Dec workshops t.b.a. on an ad-hoc/pop-up basis. So whether you’re looking for ‘ways into writing’ or need to add some amazingly original poems to your next collection, keep an eye on our ’classes’ page & — if you haven’t already — sign up for regular updates!
See you all down in the cellar-club for great poetry & the Troubadour’s great buzz as always!
readings - oct-dec 2016
mondays 8-10 pm, £7 at the troubadour
for advance booking: pay via PayPal (on readings page, below programme details) or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry at PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP
- mon 17 oct: cornucopia: scarlett sabet, paul casey, sue boyle, john greening, afric mcglinchey, heidi williamson, angela kirby & michelle cahill
- mon 31 oct: troubadour international poetry prize: 2016 judges jane yeh & glyn maxwell read along with prizewinners including abigail parry, kirtsen irving, barbara barnes & many more
- mon 14 nov: guest-choice: dom bury introduces jon stone, kate wakeling, rachel long, alex mcdonald, & an eclectic set of up-&-coming new voices
- mon 28 nov: luke kennard, louis jenkins, martina evans. marios takoushis & stuart silver in what we should have said, an entertaining, enlightening, innovative & unpredictable spoken-word shindig plus, before the break, live canon’s 154…
- mon 12 dec: here comes the night an end-of-season poetry party with invited guest readers, music & prize-quiz on the theme of darkness, midnight, moonlight…
See full details of this season’s poetry readings
classes - oct-dec 2016
sundays 12-3.30 pm, £28 at the troubadour (yeats walk £18 from ravenscourt park tube)
advance booking only as our workshops/classes (limited to 15 attendees) are frequently oversubscribed: pay via PayPal (on classes page, below programme details) or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry, PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP: if overbooked you’ll be informed by e-mail & refunded promptly
- sun 16 oct, 2.30—5 pm: land of heart’s desire: a wb yeats walk with cl dallat
- sun 23 oct, 12-3.30 pm: a long, dark night: themed writing workshop with anne-marie fyfe
- check website later for further oct-dec workshops/classes…
See full details of this season’s classes and workshops
next event
mon 17 oct: cornucopia: scarlett sabet, paul casey, sue boyle, john greening, afric mcglinchey, heidi williamson, angela kirby & michelle cahill
Cream of the 2016 crop of new collections & new work with:
- Scarlett Sabet, London based poet/performer, has read at The Groucho & William Morris House: second collection, The Lock And The Key launched at Shakespeare & Co in Paris, July 2016
- Paul Casey edits the annual Unfinished Book of Poetry (teenage writing) & founded Cork’s legendary Ó Bhéal reading series: second collection Virtual Tides (Salmon, 2016).
- Bath-based poetry activist Sue Boyle’s sequence, Report from the Judenplatz, has been performed at poetry & drama festivals: her first collection is Safe Passage (Oversteps, 2015)
- TLS poetry reviewer John Greening is a Cholomondeley & Bridport winner: latest books, To the War Poets (Carcanet, 2013) & Heath (Nine Arches, 2016, with Penelope Shuttle)
- Afric McGlinchey is featured as one of Ireland’s ‘Rising Poets’ in Poetry Ireland Review #118: first collection, the lucky star of hidden things, (Salmon, 2012) now also in Italian (L’Arcolaio, 2015)
- Heidi Williamson’s first, Electric Shadow, was a PBS Recommendation & shortlisted for Seamus Heaney Centre Prize: second collection, The Print Museum (Bloodaxe, 2016), shortlisted for 2016 East Anglian Book Award
- Angela Kirby from Lancashire lives in London: her poems have been read on BBC TV & Radio4 & appear in four collections, latest, The Days After Always: New & Selected Poems (Shoestring, 2016)
- and special guest, Arc poet Michelle Cahill from Sydney, (b. Kenya), winner of Val Vallis Award & Hilary Mantel International Short Story Prize: latest collection, The Herring Lass (2016)
autumn 2016 news
Date: 18th September 2016
Dear Coffee-House Poetry Fans
Welcome back to the season of mists & mellow fruitfulness as London poet & coffee-house fan, John Keats, described it 200 years ago. And welcome back to the Troubadour Coffee-House, meeting place for London poets for a third of those 200 years with Coffee-House Poetry keeping literature alive & lively for the past 20 years!
(Of course, a number of you haven’t been away from Troubadour Poetry for too long, & in fact are not long back from our two week-long château poetry courses: if ‘course’ is the right word for lunch in the orchard, dinner in the courtyard, music, singing & dancing into the small hours but, no, we did our stuff, workshops every morning, poetry sessions late afternoon & much of the evening entertainment was, in true Troubadour style, poetry readings & literary parlour games.
And where better than the heart of France, with Perseids shooting overhead (& on one occasion bats flying in-&-out of the high château salon windows!) for workshops on ‘darkness’. We’ve a new Sunday Gallery workshop, A Long, Dark Night coming up in October but I’m not sure we can provide the rich, velvety Charente night-sky as backdrop!)
But back to those 20th-year celebrations: & what better way to celebrate than by giving Coffee-House Poetry freebies at events, & by starting the season with free tickets!
Simply book & and pay online for the first event (Mon Oct 17th) on our ‘readings’ page & note which one of the following three events (not including our end of season themed night) you’d like to book for free (use the PayPal ‘Add Note to Seller’ option while you’re paying).
Watch out for surprise guest contributions, too, as part of this year’s 20th-anniversary buzz, guests from the worlds of music, film, theatre, all with poetry connections & a love of poetry, coming along to add to our celebrations: special guest(s) at every event &, as with proper surprises, we won’t be announcing in advance, you just have to be there.
And, as always, get down to the cellar-club to hear all that’s happening poetry-wise including a range of new poetry voices at all our events: & a particular take on the zeitgeist in our new programme strand, Troubadour Guest Choice, where a poet-of-the-moment creates an event reflecting their current personal/critical choices—starting with Dom Bury’s programme on Mon 14th Nov.
Dom, already well known to Troubadour cellar-club crowds for his front-of-house presence on poetry nights & his perceptive ear when it comes to Poem of the Night at our party readings, is also a 2016 Eric Gregory Award winner, &, as a poet/critic with his finger on the pulse, is first choice to ‘guest-host’
Read more …
