POEM OF THE NORTH

My poem, Northern Light, has been added to the Poem of the North today.

I'm very proud to be part of this celebration to mark fifty years of the Northern Poetry Library.

You can read the growing poem here

"To celebrate 50 years of the Northern Poetry Library, we welcome you to a living, growing, collaborative artwork-in-progress. The Poem of the North brings together the work of the fifty selected poets, in five cantos, published over a period of six months. By the end of 2018, the completed poem will stand as a celebratory artefact: a tribute to the region and acknowledgement of the North’s rich seam of writers and written culture. Find out more about the Library and this artwork."

Excited to have been asked to do a Northern Writers Reading event in Marsden Library on Wednesday 28th November at 7.30pm, along with fellow writer, Dave Rigby. Full details on the Friends of Marsden Library website: here

Wednesday 28th November	7.00 for 7.30 – 8.30	Dave Rigby and Amanda Huggins
Join us for a double bill of fiction with Dave Rigby and Amanda Huggins.  Readings, Audience Q&A, Sales and Signings. Dave is returning with his latest Harry Vos, and we welcome Amanda Huggins to Marsden for the first time. Dave is a local writer living in the Colne Valley.  Redline is the third book he has self-published and the second featuring Belgian private eye Harry Vos. Harry reads in his newspaper about a body found on an isolated riverbank not far from Charleroi. The man has no ID and is nicknamed Charlie by the press because of where he was found. Harry is intrigued by the case and gets involved unofficially in the investigation, which puts him increasingly under threat from a powerful company. Amanda Huggins is the author of the flash fiction collection, Brightly Coloured Horses (Chapeltown Books), and the short story collection, Separated From the Sea (Retreat West Books). Her work has been published in numerous anthologies, travel guides and literary journals, as well as in newspapers and magazines such as the Guardian, Telegraph, Wanderlust, Reader’s Digest, Writers’ Forum and Mslexia. Her travel writing has won several prizes, including the BGTW New Travel Writer of the Year Award, and her short stories and poetry are regularly placed and listed in competitions. She appeared on BBC radio as part of Your Desert Island Discs, celebrating listeners’ music choices and stories, and her written piece to accompany the programme appears on the BBC website. Amanda is originally from Scarborough. She moved to London in the 1990s, but the pull of the north was too strong, and she now lives in West Yorkshire. Books will be available to buy on the night, or you can buy them in advance online, or why not visit our nearest independent book shop, The Book Corner, Piece Hall Halifax.   You can order by email to collect at your convenience. The Book Corner, tel 01422 414443, email info@bookcornerhalifax.com Red Line ISBN: 9781789013436 Separated from the Sea ISBN: 9781999747268 Brightly Coloured Horses Ebook link

The Literary Sofa - Writers on Location

Very excited to be on Isabel Costello's Literary Sofa today, talking about my love of Japan and how the country has influenced my writing.

"Whenever I return to Japan it feels like an emotional homecoming, and I’m both relieved and excited to be back. Yet I’ve always struggled to explain or define this strong connection, or to pin down exactly why I love the country so much. Perhaps the words remain elusive because the reasons are more spiritual than tangible.

I learnt my first word of Japanese when I was a child. The word – which I couldn’t pronounce correctly – was yurushite, meaning ‘I beg your forgiveness’, and it appeared on the box lid of my Sorry! game – a souped-up form of Ludo. The board itself was decorated with elegant Japanese gardens: cherry blossom, stone lanterns, autumn maple trees, waterfalls and distant mountains. The beautiful board, and the evocative description of Japan as ‘the land of politeness’, were enough to instill a faint yearning that I didn’t understand, a yearning that was cemented by the amateur production of The Mikado that my mother took me to see. The white makeup and scarlet lips, the intricate hair decorations, the beautiful colours and patterns of the kimonos, all seemed magical.

Yet my inaugural arrival in Tokyo – way too many years later – was confusing and disorienting, and the first couple of days were all about jet-lag, sleepless nights, and fighting to master a complicated Japanese toilet that left me in tears of frustration by refusing to flush. However, as soon as I reached the traditional ryokan in the mountains, Japan became light and shadow, blossom and leaf, the sound of a shojiscreen sliding shut, of tea pouring and of temple bells, the scent of tatami matting and cedar, the exhilarating joy of climbing above the clouds. I was able to fill notebook after notebook with observations, sketches, and story ideas. And when I moved on to discover the cities and towns, I discovered that neon lights could be as beguiling as the glow of lanterns along cobbled streets, and that Tokyo, post jet-lag, was fascinating and seductive."

You can read the full post here

Poems For The NHS At 70

Thrilled to announce that my poem, The Weight of Everything, will appear in this fabulous collection celebrating 70 years of the NHS. It will be out in November, and sold in aid of an NHS charity.

Review on SmokeLong Quarterly!

The most fabulous review of Brightly Coloured Horses on SmokeLong Quarterly by C A Shaefer, which you can read here

It's made my week and it's only Tuesday!