Happenings

Ok, let's begin. There's quite a lot happening this week. If I could, I'd be catching John Agard at WORD! in Leicester tomorrow, it should be a good evening. This Saturday also sees the Brummie version of States of Independence (West), which is utterly free. This will be held at the Eastside Projects Gallery on Heath Mill Lane in Digbeth. If the Leicester ones are anything to go by this one should be just as good with publishers such as Penned in the Margins, the Shoestring Press, Nine Arches Press, Happenstance, Leafe Press, Bloodaxe, Flipped Eye Publishing, to name a few, all represented.
As for moi, I begin my proudest writing commission of the year this Autumn; writing the script of my twin daughters' Christmas play to be held at their playgroup in December. I can't say much at the moment other than it will involve glove puppets; probably a dragon and a wizard. I expect to earn a mince pie or two. I'm also very glad that my review of Paul Kingsnorth's collection, Kidland, has been posted on Todd Swift's fabulous blog Eyewear. It's a pleasure to be involved with a blog that is actively raising the profile of contemporary poetry on the Web. You can read it here at:

 http://toddswift.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-review-taylor-on-kingsnorth.html

I've also been reading a lot too, and can recommend John McCullough's 'The Frost Fairs,' definitely worth a look.