Bards at Bookends
Poet Malcolm Carson and Bookends are launching a season of bi-monthly poetry readings in Cakes & Ale starting with an evening of poetry from Peter Armstrong and Peter Bennet on Thursday 21st September.
Tickets are £5 and include a free drink on the night. They are available to purchase in-store and online at https://www.bookscumbria.com/product/cumbrian-books/event-tickets/poetry-evenings-with-bookends-and-malcolm-carson-week1-featuring-peter-armstrong-and-peter-bennet/
There is a wealth of poetic talent in Cumbria and further afield and we really wanted to dedicate a regular night to celebrating and supporting published poets. In the past we have held poetry discussion groups and open mic nights but we felt a season of poetry readings from writers with poetry collections would offer something different to the Carlisle community and be a great platform for collections to be promoted and for people to discover new poets.
Peter Armstrong has been publishing poetry since the late 1970s. His work has appeared in four main collections and hIs poetry has been described as ‘observant and imaginative’ (Sean O’Brien) and ‘radiant and politically articulate’ (Don Paterson). Peter will be reading from Of Two Ceremonies at the Border, his latest pamphlet published by Shoestring Press. Poet Roger Garfitt has described the collection as such; ‘Not only has he given a new depth to these stories he has brought across the centuries, he has found a language for them that can hold its own against the refrains he quotes from the old ballads – and that’s no small achievement.’
Peter Bennet was born in Staffordshire in 1942 and had a career in painting and art education for many years before turning to writing in 1980. He has published numerous collections, including The Glass Swarm (2008) which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, and has received major awards from New Writing North and Arts Council England and been a prizewinner in the National and the Arvon International Poetry Competitions, and in the Basil Bunting Awards. Peter will be reading from his new retrospective Nayler and Folly Wood which includes earlier works alongside new poems and is a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.
The second poetry reading will be on Thursday 16th November when Robert Etty and Malcolm Carson will be reading from their latest collections.