The U.K. based online magazine Berfrois, who themselves published an E-book of 20 Poems for Corbyn asked me to write for them an essay on why I put together 21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn.
“A long-time friend and, for his sins, former member of
the Yorkshire Regional Executive of the Labour Party came to visit for a few
days in early May. He arrived the evening of Wednesday, May 6th,
having voted by postal ballot for his local Labour candidate in the UK General
Election which of course took place the following day. Our plan was that we
would, at the appointed hour – together with my immensely tolerant wife Susan
and our altogether less tolerant cat – gather around David Dimbleby, eat and
drink to excess, and watch the predicted hung parliament unfold…” read on.
Berfrois's Poems for Corbyn includes poems by Erin
Belieu, Ian Birchall, Becky Cherriman, Natalie
Chin, Josephine Corcoran, Alec Finlay, Iain
Galbraith, Helen Ivory, Andy Jackson, Erik Kennedy, Marion
McCready, Nicholas Murray, Pascale Petit, Tom Pickard, Ian
Pindar, Michael Rosen, Michael Schmidt, Ernest Schonfield, Nick
Telfer and Rory Waterman.
21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn includes poems by
Penelope Shuttle, Merryn Williams, Mike Jenkins, Neil
Fulwood, Jo Waterworth, Jacqueline Smith, Colin Dardis, Angela T. Carr, Dave
Lordan, Ruth Aylett, Jack Grady, Mark Cassidy, Maurice Devitt, Charles Bane,
Jr., Nick Rush, Helen Harrison, John Throne, and Pete Mullineaux.
"Likely the most widely read living poet in Ireland", The Stinging Fly magazine. If you wish to invite Kevin to give a poetry reading, do a talk or facilitate a writing workshop email kphiggins@hotmail.com or phone 087-6431748.
Monday, 7 September 2015
Monday, 24 August 2015
21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn LAUNCHED!
poems by Penelope Shuttle, Merryn Williams,
Jacqueline Smith, Owen Gallagher,
Neil Fulwood, Mark Cassidy,
Pete Mullineaux, Helen Harrison,
John Throne, Angela Carr,
Charles Bane Jr., Mike Jenkins,
Jo Waterworth, Colin Dardis,
Dave Lordan, Ruth Aylett,
Jack Grady, Maurice Devitt,
Nick Rush...
Jacqueline Smith, Owen Gallagher,
Neil Fulwood, Mark Cassidy,
Pete Mullineaux, Helen Harrison,
John Throne, Angela Carr,
Charles Bane Jr., Mike Jenkins,
Jo Waterworth, Colin Dardis,
Dave Lordan, Ruth Aylett,
Jack Grady, Maurice Devitt,
Nick Rush...
You can read the poems here.
Friday, 14 August 2015
21 Poems 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn is currently seeking submissions.
21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn is currently seeking submissions.
The project will appear online during voting in the UK Labour leadership election.
We are looking for quality poems which are in some way relevant, in the broadest possible sense, to the issues raised by Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign.
Poems can have been previously published, either in collections, anthologies, or magazines.
If you are interested, please email your poem, as an attachment, with an accompanying 50 word bio, to me Kevin Higgins at kphiggins@hotmail.com
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
A Politicised Evening of Poetry at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop with Mike Jenkins & Kevin Higgins
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| Welsh poet Mike Jenkins |
The event will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Thursday, August 20th, 6.30pm.
Mike Jenkins is a retired secondary school teacher who lives in Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. His first poems were published in the Irish Press newspaper in the 1970s. He is a winner of the Eric Gregory Award, Wales Book of the Year and John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry. Mike is a former editor of Poetry Wales and co-editor and founder of RED POETS magazine, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. He has published novels, short stories and children's books. His latest book is called Shedding Paper Skin, a collection of poetry, is published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. One critic said: “Mike Jenkins writes in a unique style that is sometimes raucous and often sardonic, but it can also be tender and plaintive."
Kevin Higgins most recent collection of poems, The Ghost In The Lobby, was launched at the 2014 CĂșirt Festival by Mick Wallace TD. His poems also feature in Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe May 2014). Last year his work was the subject of a paper titled ‘The Case of Kevin Higgins: Or The Present State of Irish Poetic Satire’ given by David Wheatley at a symposium at the University of Aberdeen. Mentioning The War, a collection of his essays and reviews, was published by Salmon in April, 2012. Kevin recently re-joined the British Labour Party, as an overseas member, almost twenty four years after he was shown the door for being a tad too Militant in his socialism. He is currently curating an online project ’21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn’.
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| Kevin Higgins attending launch of the 21s issue of ROPES magazine |
All are
most welcome to attend. There is no cover charge.
The event will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Thursday, August 20th, 6.30pm.
The event will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Thursday, August 20th, 6.30pm.
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