Baudelaire with Graham Fawcett and Sue Aldred

September 18, 2019

What a treat it was to hear Graham and Sue give an eye-opening account of this often-misunderstood poet of Paris, yes, but also of the sky, of lust, pleasure, anger and disgust… Canonic translations, mostly by Edna St. Vincent Millay, offered the small select and very engaged audience a glimpse of the dreamer, the lover, the iconoclast, and someone with a definite, if not frequent, twinkle in his eye. We also heard how he became fascinated by Edgar Allan Poe, so much so that he translated many of the American’s works into French, and we discussed other influences on the French poet, Shakespeare’s in particular. As an art critic in his earlier years, visual arts also had a bearing on his view of the world and he in turn influenced later poets, T S Eliot in particular.

We admired Graham and Sue’s mastery of French in both poetry and prose, which highlighted the musicality of the texts with their crescendos, chiaroscuro and dynamic undulation of sounds and moods. Wonderful.

I in particular was delighted that with his Baudelaire Graham completed for me his Seven Olympians cycle (Ovid, Chaucer, Byron, Pushkin, Dickinson and Neruda). If you’ve missed any or indeed you wish to hear any lecture again, please look at grahamfawcett.co.uk

Events

Tuesday March 24 at West Greenwich Library, 7 for 7.30
‘HOME’ – poetry with Susannah Hart, NJ Hynes and Rosie Johnston – and music with harpist Lucia Foti

Great favourites bringing on spring 2026 on the theme of ‘HOME’ in their own words and in those of past and contemporary poets, plus some glorious music. Here’s some info about them:

Susannah Hart has been widely published in magazines and online, including Smiths Knoll, Poetry Review, PN Review and Finished Creatures. Her first collection Out of True won the Live Canon First Collection Prize and her poem Reading the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy won the 2019 National Poetry Competition. Susannah is on the board of Magma Poetry and is also a trustee of Poetry in Aldeburgh, where she coordinates the schools programme. She lives in London with her husband, is a longstanding governor of her local primary school and in her spare time is trying without much success to learn Japanese.

NJ Hynes lived and worked in South London for over 30 years but has recently relocated to East Sussex. Before moving to the UK, she lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a part of the US currently under siege from Trump’s private army, bringing to the front notions of home, allegiance and belonging. Her first collection The Department of Emotional Projections won Live Canon’s inaugural First Collection competition in 2014. Her latest pamphlet Tracking Light, Stacking Time, written in response to the astrophotography exhibited each year at the National Maritime Museum, was published by Live Canon in 2023. In between, she’s published in numerous journals, including Rialto, The Long Poem Magazine, Brittle Star and Under the Radar. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post as well as at train stations, art galleries and Soho shop fronts. 

Rosie Johnston’s fifth poetry book is Safe Ground, published by Mica Press last year. It traces Rosie’s search for safety from a tricky upbringing in Troubles Belfast to peace and a sense of home where she now lives near Margate. Her four earlier collections were published by Lapwing Publications (Belfast). Rosie’s main themes are home, and nature’s place in our recovery from trauma. Her poetry is anthologised by Live Canon, Arlen House, OneWorld’s Places of Poetry anthology, Fevers of the Mind and American Writers Review. Her poems have appeared in The Phare, Snakeskin, London Grip, Culture NI, The Honest Ulsterman, Mary Evans Picture Library’s Poems and Pictures blog and Fevers of the Mind. Rosie reads her poetry widely, most recently at the Faversham Literary Festival. She runs informal groups for writers in all genres and is currently developing ‘writing buddy’ or ‘quiet writing’ groups several times a month. www.rosiejohnstonwrites.com

Lucia Foti is a London-based Italian harpist. After graduating with first class honours from the Conservatorio di Como, she completed her Master’s, graduating with distinction from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Lucia has won several national and international prizes, including first prize the 2012 Concours Français de la Harpe and the 2015 Soroptimist Italia Competition for Young Talents, and more recently, third prize at the 2024 Manchester Harp Competition. She performs solo with professional orchestras, has performed at Kings Place and can be heard regularly at Cadogan Hall and St John’s Smith Square with the Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra. Lucia and guitarist Stefano Fiacco have partnered to form the Nazca Duo, and in 2023 they have been awarded the Colin Blythe Bursary Fund in recognition of their achievement in chamber music.

Free as always, plenty of refreshments!

Tuesday May 5 [NEW DATE!] at West Greenwich Library, 7 for 7.30

PINDROP PRESS triple launch: Alex Josephy, Emily Wills and Sharon Black present their new collections, hot off the [Pindrop] press!

More info soon.

Tuesday June 9 at West Greenwich Library, 7 for 7.30: Robert Seatter presents ‘RIVER – Poems for the River Thames, from source to sea’

This year marks 30 years of the Thames Path, creating unique access to England’s most important and much loved river. RIVER will take you on a new and visceral journey, from source to sea, unpacking encounters en route and revealing the extraordinary emotional pull of the Thames in our lives.

Robert Seatter is writer in residence on this fascinating project, writing 30 short poems for key locations along the river’s 200 mile route, including Greenwich. Poems will be accessed via QR codes on the footpath finger posts, realised in audio, plus available in a hand-printed, limited edition book.
Join Robert to hear more as well as to share your own memories and stories of the Thames over time.
Robert has published eight poetry collections, and has won many awards and nominations for his poetry, including National Poetry Competition, London Poetry and Forward Poetry Prize. He is also a skilled poetry curator, with a specific interest in poetry and place making, as well as an arts professional with experience of chairing both The Poetry Trust and The Poetry Archive. He lives in London, where he works for the BBC, his most recent role being Head of BBC History. www.robertseatter.co.uk