All posts by
Our January poem, recorded by The Poetry Archive, is To Meadows by Robert Herrick
Robert Herrick was born in Cheapside, London in August 1591, one of seven children, whose father died when he was still a baby and his mother remained a single parent thereafter. He spent six years as an apprentice goldsmith to his uncle but left 4 years before his 10-year tenure was finished. Herrick then studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and by 1629 he could be found as the newly installed vicar of Dean Prior church in Devon. Herrick was expelled from his parish in 1647, one of 142 Devonshire clergymen whose Royalist standpoint put them at odds with the Puritan uprising. He was restored to his post during the Restoration and died in his parish in 1674 aged 83. Read more…
Competition Winner Announced
Boris Starling, Writer In Residence at Max Gate during 2015 has chosen the winner of the ’88 Words’ competition he ran as part of his residency.
The remit was to write a poem of 88 words inspired by Hardy’s own short story entitled Life’s Little Ironies. The winner is Eleanor Smith from Weymouth in Dorset whose poem, Realignment wins her a copy of The Customs House by Andrew Motion. Congratulations to Eleanor and many thanks to all who entered.
John Keats – Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid Read by Sir Andrew Motion
The third poem recorded by The Poetry Archive for Writing Places is ‘Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid’ by John Keats read by Sir Andrew Motion.
‘Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid’ by John Keats read by Sir Andrew Motion
GUNPOWDER, TREASON AND PLOTTING AT MAX GATE
We had a full house for our plotting workshop on Guy Fawkes Night, though luckily there were no miscreants armed with gunpowder (or at least no more than usual) lurking round Max Gate with malice aforethought. Read more…
Final Blog, Coleridge Cottage, Rose Collis
It was somehow fitting that Coleridge Cottage’s first ever Writer-in-Residency programme should conclude on the very last weekend of its busy season, amidst the autumnal Halloween/Samhain atmosphere ─ while incongruously most of the UK bathed in the warmest late October/early November weekend on record.
Writer in Residence at Max Gate, Boris Starling, interviews author Louis de Bernieres at Bridport Literary Festival
There’s more than a touch of Thomas Hardy about Louis de Bernières. Not in terms of appearance, of course – de Bernières is a jovial soul whereas Hardy glowers in his photographs – but in what they choose to write about. They both concentrate on the little people buffeted by the gales of history, they both bring the sights and sounds and smells of landscapes to evocative life, and they both share a willingness to forgo a happy ending. Read more…
The Mower to the Glo-worms by Andrew Marvell, read by Sir Andrew Motion
Our second poem recorded by The Poetry Archive for Writing Places is ‘The Mower to the Glo-worms’ by Andrew Marvell.
‘The Mower to the Glo-worms’ by Andrew Marvell read by Sir Andrew Motion
WRITING PLACES, ROSE COLLIS BLOG TWO – A BIOGRAPHER’S TALE
The second blog installment from our Coleridge Writer In Residence, Rose Collis … Read more…
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015 
Helen Dunmore, Dorset County Museum, September 2015
Helen Dunmore at Dorset County Museum
Helen Dunmore’s hugely successful talk entitled Visiting Hardy, at Dorset County Museum on Friday 25th September. An inspiring and informative night was had by all….
