Several months ago the Charles Causley Trust was delighted to announce the beginning of a fifth writer’s residency in the New Year. This particular residency is somewhat special, catering specifically for a young writer with ties to Cornwall, either by birth, study or residence. The interest and responses we received were overwhelming, making it a very exciting selection process. We are now happy to announce the beginning of Andrew Fentham’s stay at Cyprus Well with the benefit of writer Mac Dunlop on hand as a mentor.
Andrew will benefit not only from being able to focus on his work in the former home of Charles Causley in Launceston, but he will also have the help of Mac on hand to aid him in developing his writing even further.
About Mac
Mac is a professional member of NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education), as well as founder of The Poetry Point- a website for poetry and spoken events in the South West and Cornwall, a growing area of interest to many. Along with the artist and academic Dr. Annie Lovejoy he has hosted the weekly Caravanserai Fireside Sessions of spoken word and music which take place every summer on the Roseland Peninsula. He also works as a radio producer, creating scripts collaboratively in the community and with Hall for Cornwall. His radio shows air on Cornwall’s The Source FM and London’s Resonance FM. Other commissioned works include the digital platform “Pieces of 8” – an interactive series of geo-positioned recordings of scripts, monologues, and poems. He also worked on the short performance action, titled “I Don’t Know What it Means” which was written for and performed at The Exchange Gallery Penzance. He publishes as Pluto Press Award winning cartoonist MacD.
Mac has recently completed a writer’s residency at Trelissick House in Cornwall as part of the ‘A Place to Write Project’. The project aimed to encourage visitors to find inspiration and creativity in the house, the history and the place. Mac’s new publication Solarium contains anecdotes and poetry he collected and wrote during that time and will be published by The Poetry Point Press.
Mac is now looking forward to working with emerging writer Andrew during his stay in Launceston, as well as aiding in the Causley 100 celebrations.
About Andrew
Andrew is a Birmingham writer who has lived and worked in Cornwall since 2015. He has published poems and translations in magazines and anthologies including Poetry Review, The Manchester Review and The Black Herald. He was awarded a New Poet Bursary in 2013 by New Writing North and the Taught Masters Prize in Creative Writing in 2015 by Newcastle University. Project, a creative response to the work of Victor Pasmore, appeared as an installation at the Hatton Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne) in 2015. A debut pamphlet of poems will appear this year, along with a collection of translations from the Hungarian András Gerevich in 2018. In 2016 he was a resident translator at the Magyar ForditóHáz (Hungarian Translators’ House) in Balatonfüred. Next year a pamphlet of poems on WS Graham and the St Ives School will appear from The New Fire Tree Press as part of the programme of events for Graham’s Centenary year.
I am excited and honoured to become writer-in-residence at Cyprus Well. I came to Cornwall in 2015 and feel sure that this residency will form a crucial part of my ongoing creative investigation into the county and its traditions. 2017 is a significant year, being Causley’s Centenary. I am looking forward to responding to the poet’s work and legacy, as well as to my new surroundings, at what feels like an important time to be thinking about Causley’s life and art.
Moving Forward
Together Mac and Andrew hope to produce podcast recordings to represent Causley’s home and the connection of items such as the piano and typewriter to the thinking space and inspiration of the place. This will be a great way to introduce their residency to the public and allow them to read their own and Causley’s work in an ongoing exploration of Causley’s muses.
Along with other writers and poets, they are also hoping to record readings and conversations about poetry as a possible regular feature to their residency. With a working title of ‘Causley Conversations’ this could involve a poetry group style discussion in a variety of ways. Mac is interested in continuing this theme with recordings covering various Centenary 100 events throughout 2017, forming the basis of an audio archive of contemporary poetry, themes, conversations, performances and so on.
Andrew Fentham will be writer-in-residence at Cyprus Well until April 2017.
