War Poetry Events

Time for a summary of what is past, or passing, or to come.

You can find a podcast of the Oxford Literary Festival discussion of war poetry here at George Simmers' blog. I feature in it, so I can't bring myself to listen. Also speaking were Jon Stallworthy, Elaine Feinstein, and David Harsent.

Here, courtesy of the University of Oxford's First World War Digital Archive, you can listen to a number of podcasts and lectures, including my own on Ivor Gurney and the phrase 'war poet', which I gave at King's College, Cambridge, last summer.

This weekend, 15-16 May, will see the annual meeting of the Ivor Gurney Society, in Churchdown, Gloucester. On Saturday there will be talks by Roderic Dunnett and Rolf Jordan, and a song recital given by Philip Lancaster (baritone) and Andrew Plant (piano). Graham Middleton leads a 'Gurney poetry walk' on Sunday.

I have blogged already about the forthcoming study day devoted to Rudyard Kipling's Boer War poem 'The Absent-Minded Beggar'. It will take place in Bristol on 19 June. Speakers include Peter Bailey, John Lee, Andrew Lycett, Simon Potter, Edward M Spiers, and yours truly.

The Robert Graves Society will be holding its Tenth International Robert Graves Conference at Mallorca on 6-10 July. A highlight will be a visit to Robert Graves's home, which has been meticulously restored by William Graves and has been open to the public since 2006.

An event is being planned in Cambridge on 20 July to mark the launch of an exhibition devoted to Siegfried Sassoon. Cambridge University Library successfully raised £1.25m to buy the residual Sassoon archive. More details to follow.

Finally, a new war poetry website, with political verse speaking out against the war in Iraq.