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The Maker The Charles Causley Literary Blog

Home Blog February Diary by Sue Wallace-Shaddad

February Diary by Sue Wallace-Shaddad

February 27, 2023
On my way back from Cornwall at the beginning of the month, I stopped off in Bath to visit that city for the first time. I was very impressed with the scale of the Roman Baths. Being a Jane Austen fan, I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere (forgive the pun!). I stayed in Corsham and was surprised to find out that it had been filmed as Truro for the Poldark series. It was enjoyable walking round the streets as I waited for dense fog to lift before driving home. 

To quote Alexander Graham Bell ‘when one door closes, another opens’. Recently I parted ways with a small press who had been interested in my collaboration with Suffolk artist Sula Rubens. However, I have now found another press willing to publish a book of poems and art work this April to coincide with Sula’s solo exhibition in Norwich. So proofreading and promotion lie ahead. I will share more details nearer the time.  

I sent in the full poetry collection I have been finalising to a submission window, but will need to wait till June to find out if that has had any success. Meanwhile I have signed up for a five- week on-line Arvon course, ‘Poetry: Towards a collection’, with a view to working on a different manuscript I have drafted. The tutors are Jane Commane and Ian Humphreys. I was due to go on a similar course in-person in 2020 but that was cancelled because of the pandemic situation.  

I had a good visit to London this week taking in art and poetry. I went to see the Cézanne exhibition, the newly revamped Courtauld Gallery and the Royal Academy’s ‘Spain and the Hispanic World’ exhibition.  I recommend all three! I find it is well worth subscribing to the Art Fund as you get excellent discounts on entry prices. I spent some time at the National Poetry Library looking at magazines. It is great to see where friends are getting published and to read their latest poems. I also went to a private view of work by Tessa Newcomb at the Crane Kalman Gallery, Brompton Road. Tessa paints wonderful Suffolk-inspired scenes and I have started writing poems in response to her work. 

Seren’s First Thursday readings with open mic have started again so I took part in the February open mic session. They are always very welcoming. I am also reading in an Oxford Stanza 2 open mic this week run by Kathleen McPhilemy. Kathleen also runs the poetry podcast magazine Poetry Worth Hearing. Red Door poets run regular readings on a Sunday and featured a very interesting interview with Sarala Estruch on 26th February. Sarala’s debut collection, ‘After All we Have Travelled’, has just been published by Nine Arches Press. I got to know Sarala via the Poetry School; she is now a post-doctoral candidate at the University of Liverpool. 

I attended an amazing launch of The Pomegranate Magazine Issue 4 at Westminster Music Library. It featured dance, opera singing, poetry, flute-playing and much more. The magazine publishes stories, essays and poems on artists. They have an interesting competition calling for ‘staged poetry works as part of a combined arts performance’: The Pomegranate Poetry Theatre Prize closing June 30th judged by Mark Baldwin OBE and Martin Figura. 

If you would like to contact me to comment or follow up, please send me an email via the contact box on my website 

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