The team
Angela Hicken
Madelaine - the book thief
Penny- Rose Ratcliffe
Rachel the editor- Jane the Archivist
Cordelia Gray- Friday Next
- Jacky Percival
Other teams
In the shadow of the Cathedral Find!
By the very nature of a residency, a writer will be influenced by the place in which that residency is situated.
I have read some wonderful collections of poetry created out of Writer in Residence Projects, notably Silk which resulted from a residency at the Whitchurch Silk Mill (the collection included the work not just of the writer in residence but also poems written by local people who had taken part in workshops) and also a collection which was the result of a residency at Norden Farm Arts Centre during a period of building development.
Usually these collections will be produced in very small printruns and most copies will be given to workshop participants, thus making them quite rare items right from the outset. (Hmmm what a wonderful idea for a collection - any book collector will know that once you have completed you collection of an author or a series of books you need to have something else to search for. Book collecting is as much about the thrill of the chase as finding the books. My new search will be for collections produced as a result of a residency.)
The other day while browsing in the local book section of Winchester Library (I was actually looking for a book on the 1950s development plans for Winchester - which thank goodness never happened!) when I came across St Swithun's Day a collection of poems resulting from Stella Davis' period as Poet in Residence at Winchester Cathedral in 2003. The collection reflects Stella's impressions of the Cathedral, its history, surroundings and every day life. As poet Jeremy Hooker wrote of the collection Stella was 'inspired but never overawed by the great weight of history and religious tradition' [of the Cathedral] and had a 'sure foothold in the present while communing with the past.'
I cannot choose a favourite from the collection as so many of the poems capture perfectly moments of life in the Catherdal or the Close, which are so central to life in Winchester even if simply as a shortcut from one part of town to another. Perhaps though I could choose Spring Cleaning as the poem that caught me in a smile with the images it portrays, and The Tile Pavement though not overtly a religious poem had something of a simple faith in it.
Amazon tells me that this book is currently unavailable but I am off to the Cathedral shop to see if they still have a copy in stock... and failing that I will wander around to the secondhand book sale that always fills the Deanery undercroft to have a lovely secondhand book rummage.
28 September 2009 from Madelaine - the book thief
Finds
- And here is one we missed
- And, finally, one for Hallowe'en
- How did we miss this one?
- John Wyndham's Hampshire connection
- Reading the countryside
- New Milton's new Milton
- Heywood Sumner in South Gorley
- PG Wodehouse in Emsworth
- Walking In My Sleep
- Nicola Slade's Victorian Mysteries
- England's Lost Eden
- June Tate
- Bullington
- Speed The Plough: A Country Song
- A Hampshire scarecrow: Worzel Gummidge
- Queens Arms
- Haslar Hospital Memories
- Magical writing for children
- Inspired by the Tichborne Claimant
- Gypsy Girl Trilogy
- Rev. Gilbert White (1720-1793) and The Natural History of Selborne
- Coffee with Date and Walnut Loaf
- The Play Room
- Kipling's dislikes
- Deadman's Plack
- Netley Abbey Ruins
- Portsea Sagas
- Lilian Harry's Family Connections
- Crossing the Bar
- John Betjeman and Bevis Hillier
- Growing up in Portsmouth
- More Edward Thomas
- Two blokes and a shed
- In the shadow of the Cathedral
- Hampshire Days
- Mr Hardy Writes a Poem
- "Steep" is apt
- Thackeray in Fareham
- Forgotten Favourite?
- Daniel Clay's 'Broken'
- Pell and Tess
- Edward Thomas and Froxfield
- Betjeman explores hidden corners of Hampshire
- Rebecca Smith
- Right of Access
- Hampshire songs, poems, and ditties
- In this house
- Words & Walks
- England, Their England
- An Ode to a Road
- The story of a house
- Crime Connections to the City
- John Keat's Ode to Autumn
- William Lisle Bowles, poet
- Future Princes of Winchester
- Spike Island by Philip Hoare
- The marriage of souls
- Rural Rides: William Cobbett
- Elinor Brent-Dyer remembered
- Dornford Yates' Hampshire connection
- The Marlows, their maker and stealing a corner of Dorset
- Saint Cross: England's Oldest Almshouse
- Winchester the whole day through
- HOW TO BE A BETTER PERSON
- Otterbourne's Enid Blyton? Charlotte M. Yonge (1823-1901)
- Odo's Hanging is missing
- The Warden
- Charles Kingsley's Letters
- Owslebury Bottom
- See it My Way
- Introduction to Melesina Trench
- Some Hampshire road signs read Jane Austen Country
- Flora Thompson: published poet
Recent posts
- Virginia Smith remembered
- Mary Sumner
- A272: An Ode to a Road (by Andy)
- The hunt continues
- Winchester MP Mark Oaten to publish book
- Chalet School
- Bags of Books and Enthusiasm
- Chalet School author
- Poetry in the pub
- Wealth of words in Winchester
- Hampshire Gets Going
Help the team
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