News
June 22, 2009 - Postponed: The Poets of the War Battlefields Tour October 2009
The War Poets Association was planning a tour of the battlefields for October 2009, with the emphasis on some of the First World War poets. These plans have now had to be postponed, but will possibly be re-instated for Spring 2010. If you are interested in joining the tour, please contact the Wilfred Owen Association’s Secretary, Mrs Vanessa Davis, by email: vcedavis@hotmail.com, or by post: 29 Arthur Road, London SW19 7DN, UK.
May 15, 2009 - Copies of Two Sassoon Publications For Sale
Mr and Mrs Dennis Silk have available for sale copies of a CD of Siegfried Sassoon reading 15 of his own poems (GBP 10) and the printed version of Dennis Silk’s 1998 talk at the Imperial War Museum: ‘Siegfried Sassoon and The Great War: The Making of a War Poet’ (GBP 5). Postage and packing is GBP 1.50 for one or both publications. Former England Cricket Captain, Chair of the England Cricket Team Selectors and Headmaster Dennis Silk was a friend of Siegfried Sassoon for many years.
Mr and Mrs Silk give all proceeds of sales to ‘Hop, Skip and Jump’, a children’s charity which supplies respite care for children with special needs, and care and support for their families.
Please e-mail orders for the CD and booklet to publications@warpoets.org, or in writing to our Bristol address at www.warpoets.org/join. Orders will be passed onto Mr and Mrs Silk. Please make cheques payable to Dennis Silk.
February 8, 2009 - 6 New Titles published in Cecil Woolf Publishing's War Poets Series
A series of booklets on war poets and war poetry, published by Cecil Woolf Publishers and produced under the general editorship of Dr Jean Moorcroft-Wilson, was launched in November 2005. Several other titles have been added each year since 2005. Six new titles have now been published, bringing to total number of titles to 20 or more. The six new titles are:
Drummond Allison by Ross Davies; Randall Swingler by Andy Croft; Rupert Brooke by Alan Byford; People’s Poetry of World War II by Phil Carradice; Frederic Manning by Michael Copp; Isaac Rosenberg’s Journey to Arras, by Shaun Levin.
All of these and the earlier titles, where available, can be obtained directly from Cecil Woolf Publishing, 1 Mornington Place, London NW1 7RP, UK, Tel: 020 7387 2394 (or +44 (0)20 7387 2394 from outside the UK). Titles typically cost £5-6 each, plus postage.
Please mention the War Poets Association website when ordering. (We don’t receive a commission, but just like the publishers to know!)
February 7, 2009 - 'Songs of War' St James's Church, Piccadilly, London. Saturday 25 April 2009, 7.30pm
The War Poets Association and several single war poet societies are supporting this concert of songs set to poems written by First World War Poets. Organised by the Wilfred Owen Association. The concert will take place at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London W1 on Saturday, 25 April at 7.30pm.
Programme:
NICHOLAS MULROY tenor
WILLIAM COLEMAN baritone
ANNA TILBROOK piano
Musical settings of First World War poetry by distinguished and contemporary composers, including several first performances:
George Butterworth – Six Songs From a Shropshire Lad
John Ireland – Spring Sorrow, The Soldier, In Flanders Fields
Ivor Gurney – In Flanders, Lights Out, Severn Meadows, The Muggers Song
Edward Eastaway Thomas – Tall Nettles
Gerald Finzi – To Joy, Channel Firing
Benjamin Britten – At a Calvary Near The Ancre
Elaine Hugh-Jones – Songs of War, A Strange Journey
John Jeffreys – Horror Follows Horror, Near Omiecourt
Ian Venables – Pain, Flying Crooked
Cyril Rootham – Everyone Sang, Idyll
Alan Bullard – A Swan, A Man
Tickets: £20, £15, £10 (students £5 off)
Box Office: 01323 641520
Sam Gray: e-mail: swgray@tiscali.co.uk Tel: 01323 641520 Download a booking form (HTML format) to print out and send by post to Sam Gray. Cheques should be made payable to “WOA – Events” please.
Further details: Wilfred Owen Association: www.1914-18.co.uk/owen/activities.htm
St James’s Church, Piccadilly www.st-james-piccadilly.org
St James’s Church, Piccadilly (diary pages – scroll down to 25 April): www.st-james-piccadilly.org/diary.html
January 10, 2009 - Dominic Hibberd's The Winter of the World: The Poems of the First World War published in paperback
Dominic Hibberd's new anthology of First World War poetry, edited with John Onions,
The Winter of the World: The Poems of the First World War, published early in November 2007, is now available in paperback. Follow the links here to order a copy through the WPA's Amazon website.
January 10, 2009 - Discounts for IWM London Event: Modern War Poetry, Monday, 23 March 2009, 7.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
The Imperial War Museum is offering members of the War Poets Association tickets at the concessionary rate for this key forthcoming event in the Cinema Room at its London site in Lambeth:
Monday 23 March 2009
7.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Modern War Poetry
Drawing on the work of poet soldiers who are serving, or have recently served, in Iraq or Afghanistan, this event will provide a fascinating insight into the nature of modern war, from the viewpoint of those who have experienced it at first hand.
Introduced by Max Hastings, distinguished military historian, and Christina Lamb, foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times, and featuring: Brian Turner, a former US Marine and author of Here, Bullet, the most acclaimed poetry collection to emerge from Iraq; Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Brown, still on active service in Iraq; and Major David Hamilton, who formerly served in Afghanistan.
To book your tickets now visit https://www.maximweb.co.uk/iwmlambeth/events.asp?inst=iwmdatabase or see the Museum’s own site at http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conEvent.2857
January 8, 2009 - Stephen Spender Centenary Reading and Conference: Thursday, 26 February 2009, 6.30pm-8.00pm and Friday, 27 February 2009, 10.00am-6.00pm.
The Stephen Spender Memorial Trust and University of London Institute of English Studies present a:
Stephen Spender Centenary Reading
at the
Faraday Theatre
The Royal Institution
21 Albemarle Street
London W1S 4BS
(nearest tube: Green Park)
Thursday, 26 February 2009, 6.30pm – 8.00pm
A John Coffin memorial event: attendance is free but admission is by ticket only
An evening of poetry with Grey Gowrie, Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Barry Humphries,
Andrew Motion and Natasha Spender.
To mark Stephen Spender’s centenary, Grey Gowrie, Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Barry Humphries and Andrew Motion — all of whom knew Spender well — will read a selection of his poetry. They will be joined by Natasha Spender, Stephen Spender’s widow.
Doors open 5.45pm; readings 6.30pm – 8.00pm
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. ADMISSION BY TICKET ONLY.
For tickets please email with your postal address to: jon.millington@sas.ac.uk | Jon Millington, Events Officer, Institute of English Studies, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU; tel +44 (0) 207 664 4859.
For further information about the Reading please visit:
www.stephen-spender.org/SSMTrust/ssmt_events/ssmt_evSS100Reading.htm
Stephen Spender Centenary Conference
A One-Day Stephen Spender Centenary Conference will take place at the Institute of English Studies on the following day, Friday 27 February 2009, 10.00am-6.00pm (registration from 09.30am.) Registration Fees: £35 Standard or £25 for IES Members, or concessions (students, unwaged).
For further details of both events visit the Institute of English Studies web page at
http://ies.sas.ac.uk/events/conferences/2009/SSpender/index.htm or the website of the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust atwww.stephen-spender.org/SSMTrust/ssmt_news_events.htm
November 13, 2008 - David Jones Film by Derek Shiel, London, 14 January 2009, 6.30pm - 8.30pm.
Derek Shiel will be screening his film about David Jones in London early next year for the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion at 6.30pm – 8.30pm on Wednesday 14th January 2009 at The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. Anyone interested is welcome to come along.
November 3, 2008 - My Last Muse: 5 Poems by Robert Graves for Bass and Orchestra. London, 15th November 2008 7.30 pm.
MY LAST MUSE
5 poems by Robert Graves for bass and orchestra by Geoffrey Álvarez.
This work for bass and orchestra will be premiered as part of a programme of works by composers Geoffrey Álvarez, Diana Burrell, Aleksander Tansman and Zygmunt Krauze.
Geoffrey Álvarez will conduct the Álvarez Chamber Orchestra, joined by soloists Patrick Ardagh-Walter (bass), Hannah Riches (saxophone) and Timothy Walker (guitar). Julia Simonne, Graves’s last muse, for whom the poems were written, will read them as an introduction.
15th November 2008 7.30 pm
St. John’s, Smith Square, London
Tel. 020 7222 1061
Web: www.sjss.org.uk Full event details: www.sjss.org.uk/pages/Diary/content_page2_2.htm (scroll down the page to 15 November) Tickets: £20.00 / £16.00 / £14.00 / £10.00 (concessions: £10.00)
NB: 6.30pm – Pre-concert talk given by Geoffrey Álvarez with
Mireille Tansman Zanuttini and Marianne Tansman Martinozzi
Full concert details:
Northern Ayres: an Anglo-Polish Celebration: Terra Incognita
Krauze Terra Incognita; Piano Quintet
Burrell Black. Starlight.
Bright. Cinnamon. Earth
Tansman sinfonietta No.2
Alvarez My Last Muse
Fantasia on Tansman’s Last Theme: Alla Polacca.
Sponsored by LOT Polish Airlines, Campion Press, Polish Cultural Institute and Wyborowa Vodka.
September 29, 2008 - 'Poetry and the Memory of War', Imperial War Museum, London, Tuesday 11 November 2008: 7pm.
IWM/WPA Event: ‘Poetry and the Memory of War’, Imperial War Museum, London, Tuesday 11 November 2008: 7pm.
The WPA’s next major event will be on Remembrance Day, which this year marks the 90th Anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended the First World War. War poetry experts Poet Laureate Professor Andrew Motion, Professor Jon Stallworthy and WPA President Professor Paul O’Prey will discuss how poetry shaped the memory of those who fought in the Great War and the perceptions of the later generations. Poems will be read by close family descendants of the major First World War poets, including Edmund Blunden, Robert Graves, Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon (tbc) and Edward Thomas, on the actual 90th anniversary of the day that the war ended. An event not to be missed!
TICKETS NOW ALL SOLD OUTPoetry and the Memory of War is one of a number of First World War 90th Anniversary events taking place at The Imperial War Museum, which itself was founded as a ‘lasting memorial of common effort and common sacrifice’ in the First World War (or ‘The Great War’). A major exhibition opening on 30 September, In Memoriam: Remembering the Great War commemorates the ninetieth anniversary of the Armistice and tells the story of some 90 individuals whose lives were shaped by the events of the First World War – on the front line and on the home front. For further details of the exhibition click here. For further details of all First World War 90th Anniversary events at the IWM, visit www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/95/events/events.html .