welcome
from Coffee-House Poetry organiser, Anne-Marie Fyfe
Many thanks – & I’m passing on thanks from Jane Hirshfield – to all who joined us from so many different timezones for Jane’s stunning #poetrymonday reading & in-conversation from her cool bright California noonday, in contrast to our cold wet London night (see readings, Mon 18 Nov).
An outstanding evening, & thanks too, to all who’ve emailed to say how privileged they felt to have been part of such a profound & mesmerising poetry happening, not just for Jane’s beautiful & wide-ranging poems from her ‘new & selected’ The Asking (Bloodaxe) conveyed so engagingly, serenely, but for her generosity (the conversation carried on way past the hour & none of us noticed) & her wisdom, intelligence & thoughtfulness, on everything from who Chinese poets are reading now, to why the smallest of living things play such a part in her poems, to the appeal of the small poem (her pebbles, & assays); from why science matters more than ever to poets, to what she’s learned (from Central European poets who’ve lived through desperate times) of how not to despair of the falling world…
… & about the significance of silence in her world, & in her poems, the aural & visual white space at the edges & between the lines, where meaning resides or hides. Plus, as always, in our talking transatlantic series, her personal gems of craft advice to our audience of poets.
Thanks to Jane for a wonderful poetry experience (yet again – her second visit in this series) & to resident #poetrymondays interviewer Cahal Dallat for exploring in depth, in conversation, so many of Jane’s themes, interests & concerns. Of course, as some of you will know, Jane is one of the ‘favourite poets’ Cahal has featured in his #betweenthelines masterclasses.
All our international online events continue to be offered free! And apologies to all those who didn’t get a place: our limit’s 100 and we had 281 booking requests, a measure of Jane’s popularity, though Mark Doty, who’s our next talking transatlantic guest in the new year, will inevitably be oversubscribed, so do look out for future emails.
Next-up’s our 2024 prize night: judges Jane Yeh & Glyn Maxwell still deep in the reading process & we’ll be letting winners know from Mon 2 Dec with, a week later, the public announcement, & readings by winners, commendeds & the judges themselves, at our international online prizenight on Mon 9 Dec (see right). Unmissable!
#poetrymondays
- mon 9 dec, 7.30 pm: troubadour international poetry prize night: judges jane yeh & glyn maxwell (free online event) with 2024 prizewinners!
- talking transatlantic with mark doty & dennis nurkse: two more free online reading & in-conversation events in early 2025
See full details of poetry readings
classes & courses
booking now
- sun 12 jan—sat 15 mar, £280: home truth: architecture & longing: 7-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
- fri 10 jan—sat 1 mar, £280: between the lines, a 7-wk masterclass with cahal dallat
current
- sun 20 oct—sat 14 dec: taking a walk: the poetry of footfall: 7-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
- sun 20 oct—sat 14 dec: beyond the blue: 7-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
- fri 25 oct—sat 14 dec: between the lines, a 7-wk masterclass with cahal dallat
- sun 22 sep—sat 23 nov: root & branch: the enchantment of trees: 7-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
recent
- sun 8 sep—sat 2 nov: beyond the blue: 7-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
- fri 6 sep—sat 26 oct: between the lines, a 7-wk masterclass with cahal dallat
- sun 8 sep, 2.30-5pm: poetry in the pavements: explore the young wb yeats’s west-london world with cahal dallat
- sun 23 jun—sat 24 aug: solitary spaces: 9-wk creative-writing workshop series on solitude, with anne-marie fyfe
- sun 16 jun, 2.30-5pm: land of heart’s desire: wb yeats literary walk with cahal dallat
- sun 26 may—sat 27 jul: nocturne, a 9-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
- fri 24 may—sat 13 jul: between the lines – focus on form, a 7-wk masterclass with cahal dallat
- sun 21 apr—sat 29 jun: root & branch: the enchantment of trees: 9-wk creative-writing workshop series anne-marie fyfe
- sun 7 apr—sat 15 jun: the avian eye: 9-wk creative-writing workshop series with anne-marie fyfe
