“… 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
Sheer poetry, last night (Mon 12 Jun), not just Thomas Lynch’s poems, but his dazzlingly poetic prose (proving his Sunday Gallery workshop theory of genre bending) & his flowing interview/Q&A words of wisdom, an evening rich in both poetry & thoughts about poetry, as well as — inevitably from the literary world’s favourite undertaker — reflections on life, on death, onthe uses of form & formality, the need for empathy & much more) plus a handful of great Tom Lynch stories from both Michigan & Moveen, Co. Clare.
Poetry, too, in the lyrical & energised playing of violin & cello virtuosi, Aisling & Julie-Anne Manning, bringing us Bach, Johan Halvorsen’s dramatic Handel-based Passacaglia & some Irish airs… the perfect overture to Tom’s poetry.
A poetry evening, too, in which poets abounded in the audience, something Tom recognised as a uniquely Troubadour experience. A great & literarily, philosophically rewarding experience. And long queues & great conversations as Tom got to sign so many books, thanks to a clearly enraptured audience.
And the world turns… from Tom’s bestselling book of essays, Bodies in Motion and at Rest to thoughts of celestial bodies & astronomical motion as we celebrate, just after summer solstice (Mon 26 Jun – end-of-season’s always quite a celebration with guest poets’ choices, music, quiz, prizes etc) the awesome, the galactic, the astronomical, the stellar, interplantetary universe, in an evening entitled Planet Earth (see right).
Back to themed workshops, (after two v. popular visiting-US-poet Sunday sessions) & a second & third chance (Sun 18 Jun & Sun 2 Jul) for those who missed A Tree Grows which produced such amazing & unlikely poems three weeks ago: & still a chance to sign up for Land of Heart’s Desire: A WB Yeats Walk (on Sun 25 Jun), check them both out here.
Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2017’s deadline of Mon 16 Oct isn’t looming just yet but hopefully its within your sights, shimmering on the horizon — with not merely monetary prizes but a range of contributions from a great list of sponsors!
readings - may-jun 2017
mondays 8-10 pm, £7 at the troubadour
for advance booking: pay via PayPal (on readings page) or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry at PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP
- mon 15 may: spring fever: with elaine gaston, jon stone, claire dyer, alistair noon, ruth sharman, nick makoha, michael scott & penny boxall plus singer/guitarist henry fajemirokun
- mon 29 may states of writing: with d. nurkse, reading & in-conversation plus, before the break, poets from university of north florida, plus singer/guitarist mark ari
- mon 12 jun: a matter of life & death: the much-loved, & award-winning, michigan poet, essayist & undertaker, thomas lynch, reading & in-conversation, with special guest appearance by aisling & julie-anne manning
- mon 26 jun: planet earth: poetry party with guest readers, music & prize-quiz on the theme of planets & perseids, stars & satellites, orbits, galaxies & constellations…
See full details of this season’s poetry readings
classes - may-jun 2017
sundays 12-3.30 pm, £28 at the troubadour
(except yeats walk, sunday 25th jun, 2.30-5 pm, £18 from ravenscourt park tube)
advance booking only as our workshops/classes (limited to 15 attendees) are frequently oversubscribed: pay via PayPal (see classes page) or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry, PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP: if overbooked you’ll be informed by e-mail & refunded promptly
- sun 21 may, 12-3.30 pm: a tree grows: themed writing workshop with anne-marie fyfe
- sun 28 may, 12-3.30 pm: masterclass: critical workshop with d. nurkse (now fully booked)
- sun 11 jun, 12-3.30 pm: genre bending: writing workshop with thomas lynch (now fully booked)
- sun 18 jun, 12-3.30 pm: a tree grows: themed writing workshop with anne-marie fyfe
- sun 25 jun, 2.30-5 pm, £18: land of heart’s desire: a wb yeats walk with cl dallat
- sun 2 jul, 12-3.30 pm: a tree grows: themed writing workshop with anne-marie fyfe
