17th December 2020

Things We Should Have Said

26th November 2020

Clare Best
Robert Hamberger

29th October 2020

Martyn Crucefix
Phil Kirby

24th September 2020

Julia Deakin
Jackie Wills

27th August 2020

Veronica Aaronson
Jean Atkin

30th July 2020

Alyson Hallett
Penelope Shuttle

25th June 2020

Raine Geoghegan
Jennie Osborne

28th May 2020

Graham Burchell
Rosie Jackson

30th April 2020

Maria Jastrzebska
Louise Warren

26th March 2020

Dominic Fisher
Deborah Harvey

27th February 2020

Stephen Boyce
Dawn Gorman

30th January 2020

John Greening
Susan Jane Sims

19th December 2019

Moira Andrew
Neil Richards
Tom Sastry

28th November 2019

Claire Crowther
Carrie Etter

31st October 2019

Martin Figura
Helen Ivory

26th September 2019

Sue Boyle
Maggie Harris

29th August 2019

Michelle Diaz
Jonathan Edwards

25th July 2019

Alison Brackenbury
Shirley Wright

27th June 2019

Martina Evans
Aoife Mannix
Richard Douglas Pennant
Stuart Silver
Helen Moore

30th May 2019

James Davey
Jinny Fisher

25th April 2019

Rachael Clyne
Janet Sutherland

28th March 2019

Philip Gross
Lesley Saunders

28th February 2019

David Cooke
Ian Royce-Chamberlain

31st January 2019

Ben Banyard
Carrie Etter

20th December 2018

Kevan Manwaring
Jan Noble

13th December 2018

Stephen Seabridge

29th November 2018

Pey Pey Oh
Alasdair Paterson

9th November 2018

Martin Malone

25th October 2018

C L Dallat
Anne-Marie Fyfe

27th September 2018

Ross Cogan
Anna Saunders

30th August 2018

Josephine Corcoran
Lesley Saunders

26th July 2018

R V Bailey
June Hall

28th June 2018

Elizabeth Parker
Julia Webb

31st May 2018

Susan Richardson
Claire Williamson

27th April 2018

Cora Greenhill

26th April 2018

Tony Curtis
Cora Greenhill

29th March 2018

Paul Deaton
Ramona Herdman

22nd February 2018

Alyson Hallett
Julie-Ann Rowell

25th January 2018

Angela France
Robert Walton

28th December 2017

Stephen Daniels
Hazel Hammond
Dru Marland

30th November 2017

Tania Hershman
Pam Zinnemann-Hope

26th October 2017

Jonathan Edwards
Sarah Watkinson

28th September 2017

Zelda Chappel
Peter Robinson

17th September 2017

Carrie Etter

31st August 2017

Rachel Curzon
Helen Evans

27th July 2017

John Greening
Penelope Shuttle

29th June 2017

Lisa Brockwell
Beatrice Garland
Kate Noakes

24th June 2017

Moira Andrew
Maggie Harris
Ruth Marden
Crysse Morrison
Patrick B Osada
Peter Wyton

25th May 2017

Elephant's Footprint
Jodie Hollander
Liz Watts

27th April 2017

Rishi Dastidar
Susan Utting

17th April 2017

Rebecca Gethin

30th March 2017

Charles G Lauder Jr
Jennifer A McGowan

23rd February 2017

Wendy Klein
Daniel Sluman

26th January 2017

Ira Lightman
Ruth Sharman

3rd January 2017

Angela France
Roy Marshall

15th December 2016

John Hawkhead
Elizabeth Parker

24th November 2016

Claire Dyer
Hannah Teasdale

27th October 2016

Brokenborough Poets
Liz Carew
Atherton Gray
David Lukens
Matthew Oates
John Richardson
MM Season

29th September 2016

Deborah Harvey
Kieron Winn

16th September 2016

Harry Man

25th August 2016

Various contributors to the new book Salt on the Wind

11th August 2016

Georgi Gill
JL Williams

28th July 2016

David Clarke
Rachael Clyne

30th June 2016

Alison Brackenbury
Rosie Jackson

28th June 2016

Sam Loveless
Alan Summers

26th May 2016

Martyn Crucefix
Linda Saunders

5th May 2016

Cristina Navazo-Eguia Newton

28th April 2016

Graham Burchell
Maggie Sawkins

31st March 2016

Caroline Heaton
Martin Malone

25th February 2016

Sue Boyle
Connie Voisine

28th January 2016

Carrie Etter
Matthew Stewart

4th January 2016

Alison Lock
Stephen Payne

26th November 2015

Rose Flint

29th October 2015

Robin Houghton

28th September 2015

Emily Wills

27th August 2015

Alasdair Paterson

30th July 2015

Matt Merritt

25th June 2015

Deborah Harvey

28th May 2015

Susan Jane Sims
Jeremy Young

30th April 2015

Carole Baldock

26th March 2015

Lesley Saunders

26th February 2015

Susan Utting

29th January 2015

Sue Chadd

5th January 2015

Josephine Corcoran

4th December 2014

Special Event

30th October 2014

Stephen Elves

25th September 2014

Daisy Behagg

3rd September 2014

Special Event

31st July 2014

Peter Wyton

26th June 2014

Rosie Jackson

29th May 2014

Misha Carder

24th April 2014

Richard Skinner

27th March 2014

Allison McVety

27th February 2014

Martin Malone

30th January 2014

Hilda Sheehan

16th December 2013

Deborah Harvey

28th November 2013

Chrissie Gittins

24th October 2013

Dawn Gorman

26th September 2013

Fiona Moore

2nd September 2013

Special Event

25th July 2013

Alan Summers

27th June 2013

Kevan Manwaring

25th April 2013

Lynne Sedgmore

28th March 2013

Peter Wyton

28th February 2013

Jay Ramsay

24th January 2013

Linda Saunders

19th December 2012

Helen Moore

29th November 2012

Frances-Anne King

29th October 2012

Rose Flint

1st October 2012

Lesley Saunders

3rd September 2012

Special Event

30th July 2012

Jay Ramsay

23rd May 2012

Special Event

30th April 2012

Stephen Boyce

26th March 2012

Kevan Manwaring

23rd January 2012

David C Johnson

19th December 2011

Crysse Morrison

22nd November 2011

Philip Lyons

31st October 2011

Sue Boyle

29th September 2011

Special Event

27th August 2011

Liv Torc

25th July 2011

Stephen Payne

27th June 2011

Kevan Manwaring

23rd May 2011

Linda Snell

18th April 2011

Special Event

28th March 2011

Julie Mullen

28th February 2011

Gabriel Bradford Millar

25th January 2011

Special Event

13th December 2010

Muriel Lavender

17th November 2010

Karen Hoy
Alan Summers

23rd September 2010

Carrie Etter

31st August 2010

Jay Ramsay

John Hawkhead

Guest Poet: John Hawkhead

John Hawkhead is writer and illustrator from Bradford on Avon who specialises in short poetry, fiction and plays. This is his first full collection of English language haiku, bringing together over 20 years of previously published material from all over the world.

Elizabeth Parker

Guest Poet: Elizabeth Parker

Elizabeth Parker taught secondary English in comprehensive schools for eight years and, along with her poetry, she is working on two novels based on her experiences. Her poetry has been published in various journals including Magma, The Interpreter's House and Agenda. Among others, she has been shortlisted for The Bridport Poetry Prize and was a prizewinner in the 2016 Troubadour International Poetry Prize. Following her 2016 pamphlet, Antinopolis (published by Eyewear), Elizabeth's first full collection, In Her Shambles, was published by Seren this April.

15th December 2016, The Swan Hotel, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire BA15 1LN

Mention the word 'haiku' in a roomful of poets, and the reaction can be the same as when you mention the word 'poetry' in a roomful of non-poets. There's a bit of a shuffly silence, a couple of smart quips, then a hasty change of subject. Which is why I think everyone should take time out to read (or, better, to hear) John Hawkhead's haiku. As relevant to now as Facebook and climate change, these beautifully balanced tinies from his new collection Small Shadows each turn you one way then the other with such adept manoeuvring, they've taken your breath away before you know what's hit you.

Here's just one to whet your appetite if you missed the night:

the bright red tattoo
on the side of her arm
a fading palm print

It helps, of course, that John's delivery is so good - he has a genuine and disarming connection with his audience. Maybe it's a haiku thing, as it's certainly something shared by Alan Summers, the new President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society, who gave a funny and accessible introduction to haiku - how it came about, and the connections this very modern verse has back to the old hokku/renga verses. And we were also given a bit of insight into the world of small press publishing by John's publisher, Kim Richardson of Alba Publishing, to make for a really well-rounded presentation.

John's co-guest poet, Elizabeth Parker, read from her new pamphlet Antinopolis, treating us to portraits of a large cast of creatures from the animal kingdom - pigeons, bats, spiders, house martins and the superbly captured 'black crossbow of the lone cormorant' - drawn from her current home by the waterside in Bristol, and her childhood home, a garden centre in the Forest of Dean, run by her parents. That curious inheritance of background seeps into her work - sometimes almost tangibly, in a world where land is 'mulched until trees drank their own names'. Gorgeous.

There was a particularly fine stash of poems from the open mic-ers, too - as Jinny Fisher said later, "All were winners and all shall have prizes!" In the running were: Stephen Payne, Sam Loveless, Crysse Morrison, Claire Williamson ('poetry in the seams of lives' - love this), Pey Oh Colborne, Chaucer Cameron, Kate Escher, Bob Walton, Jinny Fisher, Luke Palmer, Peter O'Grady, John Powell, Paul Deaton, Paul Brokensha and Trish Hawkhead.

All this, and a great buffet in the interval courtesy of James and the team at The Swan - huge thanks to them for that.