Poetry - Katherine Gallagher

NEWS

www.poetryinternational.org
Details of my poetry collections plus a selection of poems from my various collections by Australian Editor, Michael Brennan, were added to the Australian section of www.poetryinternational.org in November, 2007.

Eleanor Brasch Enterprises
Arc Publications (http://www.arcpublications.co.uk) have an Australian distributor : Eleanor Brasch Enterprises, PO Box 586, Artamon, NSW. 2064. Email: brasch2@aol.com

Stevie Smith’s Masks – the Poems & Novels
I gave a talk and reading of Stevie Smith’s poems at the Friends’ House, Leicester Street, Barnet, EN5 on the 12th April, 2008. It was fun. Stevie Smith is very popular.

Poetry & Voice:
These workshops are continuing on at Torriano Meeting House. 99 Torriano Ave., Kentish Town, NW5. Kentish Town Tube.
(see Workshops for dates)
Following the July 19th one, there will be a break, with the programme starting again in September.

Barnet Junior Poetry Competition
The 2008 competition which I am again judging, was launched at the Bull Theatre, High Street, Barnet on March 29th. As usual, there are two sections, (7 – 11 & 12 – 16) with prizes for each age group – 1st £20, 2nd £10 and 3rd – 3 of £5 each. The closing date is November 15, 2008. Entry forms can be downloaded on the Barnet Arts Council website: http://www.artsinbarnet.org.uk
Each year, this Competition discovers young poets of great promise and enthusiasm.

Torriano Poetry Competition
Torriano Poetry Competition: This will be run again in 2008 – judged by Nancy Mattson and Mike Bartholmew-Biggs. More details later.

Southerly dedicated to Professor Elizabeth Webby
I was delighted to receive the latest Southerly (ISBN 978–1–8876040–93–2) dedicated to Professor Elizabeth Webby for her amazing work for Australian letters, writers and scholars. The cover, featuring a smiling Webby in Drysdale’s ‘Drover’s Wife’ mode speaks miles and miles. Many people, myself included, have a Webby story of how she supported them over the years with generosity and panache. As the editors, Bernadette Brennan and Noel Rowe state, ‘This issue is then, a tribute to a brilliant career, one that didn’t go bung.‘ . . .pages (offered) ‘as a sign of admiration, thankfulness, and great affection.’

Launch: Katherine signing Circus-Apprentice - 20th October	Kwesi, Katherine, Ian at the launch at The Menzies Centre - 29th October

My new collection, Circus-Apprentice, was launched along with Joanna Boulter's book Twenty Four Preludes & Fugues on Dmitri Shostakovich by Arc Publications (www.arcpublications.co.uk) on October 20th, 2006 at Trinity United Reformed Church, Buck Street, London NW1 8NT.

There was another launch for Joanna and myself at the Lit. & Phil. Library in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 24th October. It's an amazing place, next to the station.

The third event was on the 29th November at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, part of King's College London. The Menzies Centre is at the Melbourne Place end of Australia House. There were about 60 people there. Highlight of the evening was the sequence After Kandinsky, eleven poems inspired by Kandinsky paintings from his Bauhaus period, accompanied by Kwesi Edman (cello) and Ian Henderson (flute). Kwesi composed the music which was very well received. Certainly, poetry and music go together beautifully. Very exciting. Finally, Ian, Lecturer in Australian Literature, launched Circus-Apprentice, giving some fascinating insights into its focus on hybridity, landscape, exile and the cosmopolitan.

Events

WORKSHOPS

Saturday March 8, 12 – 6 pm - Getaway – escape, holidays, relationships, finding new leads
Saturday May 10, 12 – 6 pm - Unchartered territories – from the homespun to the surreal, focus on the craft

During these courses, we will look at a variety of ‘example’ poems and explore our own ideas, feelings and memories through writing exercises and constructive feedback. The workshop is for new and experienced writers.

Katherine Gallagher is a widely-published poet and experienced poetry tutor. She has four full-length collections of poetry, including Tigers on the Silk Road (Arc Publications, 2006) and Circus-Apprentice (Arc, 2006). Formerly Writers Inc Education Officer. Circus-Apprentice was selected as Book of the Month (March 2007) on the Poetry Kit (www. poetrykit.org).

Please bring a packed lunch. Fee: £28, £24 (concs.) Pre-booking essential
Contact Katherine - T: 0208 881 1418 E: mail@katherine-gallagher.com

Workshop: Poetry & Voice

Dates: 2007-2008, London
Saturdays, 1.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m.:

29th September	17th November	8th December	19th January	9th February
15th March	19th April	17th May	14th June	19th July

Wanting to develop your poetry-skills, explore your poetry 'voice'?
This workshop offers ways into writing poetry. Writing-exercises and constructive feedback. Practical criticism of existing work.
The emphasis is on tuning into ourselves and the poem, its particular shapes and rhythms. For new and experienced writers. Please bring 12 copies of your poem.

Venue:

Pre-bookings and further details:

• T: 0208 881 1418
• E: mail@katherine-gallagher.com

Workshop: Barnet Writers Workshop

Dates: 2007-2008, London
Tuesdays: 1.00 - 4.00 p.m. -- Monthly
Ways into Writing. For new and experienced writers.
Dates of next workshops:

25th September	23rd October	27th November	11th December
15th January	19th February	11th March	15th April
13th May	10th June	15th July

Cost per session: £10

Pre-bookings and further details:

• T: 0208 881 1418
• E: mail@katherine-gallagher.com

AND NOT TO THE FRIENDS’ HOUSE.
Thanks.

Katherine Gallagher at the Stevie Smith Exhibition in Palmers Green Library, North London - September, 2002

See also the unveilling of Stevie Smith Blue Plaque.

Biographical Note

I am a widely-published Australian poet resident in London. My books include The Eye's Circle (Rigmarole, 1974), Passengers to the City (Hale & Iremonger, 1985), Fish-rings on Water (Forest Books, 1989), Finding the Prince (Hearing Eye Pamphlet Series, 1993), a translation of Jean-Jacques Celly's poems, The Sleepwalker with Eyes of Clay (Forest Books, 1994), Tigers on the Silk Road (Arc Publications, 2000), and After Kandinsky (Vagabond Press, 2005, Chapbook Rare Object Series).
My next collection Circus Apprentice (ISBN 1-4614-02-7) was published by Arc Publications in October 2006.
See http://www.arcpublications.co.uk
Tigers on the Silk Road is distributed in Australia by Fremantle Arts Centre Press through Penguin. Passengers to the City was shortlisted for the 1986 Australian National Poetry Award.
Winner of the 1981 Brisbane Warana Prize.
Until 2008, I was Writers Inc/Blue Nose Poets’ Education Officer but unfortunately, due to funding cuts, Writers Inc can no longer continue. From July - October, 2002, I was Writer in Residence at Railway Fields Nature Reserve, Harringay, London. N4.

In 2004-5, I co-ordinated on behalf of Writers Inc an Arts Council-funded Young Writers’ Mentorship Project to work in twelve secondary schools in the Boroughs of Barnet, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey and Islington. Other participating poets were Mario Petrucci whose idea it was originally and Sue Hubbard. The Project was very successful and showed the need for such one-to-one mentoring as a spur to fledgling writers for they rarely have such direct access to established writer-tutors.

Interview - March 2000 with Ted Slade for the Poetry Kit on

http://www.poetrykit.org

Interview - January 2006 with Professor Lidia Vianu (University of Bucharest) on

http://www.lidiavianu.scriptmania.com