From Glastonbury to Chichester - poet Kate Noakes

Kate, who has performed at Glastonbury, writes poetry, short fiction, novels, and non-fiction and is an elected member of the Welsh Academy of Letters.

Entrance £5 on the door. For further information, see www.sdpf.org.uk

Kate has published several collections of poetry, her latest being Goldhawk Road, which she will be reading selections from in Chichester.

Poet Tamar Yoseloff has said of the new book: “Kate Noakes’s poems sparkle with striking images and mischievious humour yet are always dart-precise when articulating the human condition, the impact of art, the crisis of a changing climate and the magnetic pull of place. In Goldhawk Road, Noakes observes the world from her west London vantage point, but the poems reach out to a broader sense of self and belonging. And even in the collection’s darker moments, there is consolation: ‘I know we are living in the end/of days. Still, there is art.’ This collection speaks to that truth.’”

Spokesman Barry Smith added: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Kate back to read for us at Chichester following readings in London, Cardiff, Winchester and Bristol. Her work has been widely published in magazines such as The North, Poetry Wales, Mslexia, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Salzburg Review and in the UK national press. She has performed at venues as diverse as The Troubadour, Glastonbury Festival, the Poetry Society, the Crypt and Henley Literature Festival. Kate was founding president of Paris Lit Up, a not-for-profit literature organisation. She has taught creative writing for Oxford University and the Poetry School. Her special interests include contemporary culture and environmental matters.”

In the second part of the evening, local writers will get the chance to share the platform with Kate and read their latest poems.

Barry added: “It promises to be a stimulating evening. We welcome poetry from people of all ages and backgrounds, from students to those taking up writing after retiring from work. We’re always pleased to see old friends and newcomers alike stepping up to the open mic to read in any style and on any subject. Chichester is high on the list of venues for poets to share their new work so there are always published poets in the audience alongside those just embarking on the joys of writing poetry. Those who prefer just to sit back and listen are equally welcome.”

Open Mic Poetry takes place on Wednesday October, 25, 7.30pm, Jubilee Hall, New Park Centre, Chichester.

Barry is celebrating the release of his latest collection Reeling and Writhing (Dempsey and Windle/VOLE Books, £12.50). Barry, who lives in Bognor Regis and was co-ordinator for the first ten years of the Festival of Chichester, said: “Spinning off ideas and themes suggested by Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice books, Reeling and Writhing offers a retrospective of my poetry from the 60s right up to the 20s.”