Lessons from the School of Night

In a guest episode of the podcast, Suzannah V. Evans interviews Sinéad Morrissey, who won the Forward Prize for best collection for her 2017 book, On Balance. Morrissey was delivering the keynote lecture at this year's Stanza Poetry Festival, where the interview was recorded, in St. Andrews in the spring. They discussed the importance of form, the development of On Balance, and Les Murray's influence on Morrissey's work. She discusses and reads her poems 'On Balance' and 'The Rope' at 9m30s and 13m43s. On Balance was reviewed in Issue 3 of the Scores. Photo by Lukas Becker on Unsplash.

Pulitzer Prize winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon discusses everything from the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland to Rudy Giuliani to what people expect from poetry. Muldoon is the author of over thirty collections and the recipient of numerous awards, including the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Griffin Poetry Prize. Muldoon, born in County Armagh in Northern Ireland, has been teaching in the U.S. for the past thirty years, most recently at Princeton University. He is also an honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. "Even though we read no poetry, as a culture, we do know that it may have some power in the world, and we turn to it in times of crisis." Paul Muldoon

I don't feel any such responsibility at all, because I can't help being white and I can't help being male, any more than I can help being working class — David Harsent Sean Robinson met with David Harsent after his reading at Toppings in December, where he was promoting his twelfth collection of poetry, 'Salt'. In this interview David urged young writers to take their own risks, to 'sacrifice good for unsafe'. He talked about his preference for poetry which uses fictional constructs as opposed to confession. Sean and he also discussed the pressures of making money alongside poetry; the need to read omnivorously; and poetry's political role, or lack thereof. This episode of the podcast was  produced with Stephen Sacco.

In this interview I met with Douglas Dunn, who spoke candidly about the experience of growing old as a writer; discussed teaching and playwriting as ways for a poet to make ends meet; and reminisced about the publication of his first book Terry Street, and Phillip Larkin's role in getting it published. Dunn reads two of his new poems: 'The Teacher's Notes' at 10m02s, and 'Thursday' at 24m10s. Apologies for the poor sound quality at points.

Lessons from the School of Night "I generally find that language will just open up again every time you hit a wall" — Eric Langley Sean Robinson met with Eric Langley at the Topping bookshop, before Eric's appearance at the School of Night, where he read from his first book of poetry, Raking Light. They discussed Eric's childhood holidays with J.H. Prynne, the influence of the Elizabethans on his work, and the role of the words themselves in the process of composition. Eric also read his poem 'Puncture' for us (at 26m50s). Eric Langley's first poetry collection, Raking Light, was published by Carcanet earlier this year. His work has previously appeared in New Poetries VI, Blackbox Manifold, and PN Review. Eric works in the English department at UCL, where he teaches both Renaissance and contemporary literature, and he has published scholarship on Shakespeare in a variety of contexts, particularly in relation to developments in medical and scientific thought of the period: his first academic monograph is Narcissism and Suicide in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (OUP, 2009), and he is in the final stages of a second book to be called Ill Communications: Shakespeare' Contagious Sympathies. He was born in the Midlands, went to university in Leeds, lived in St Andrews, and has now settled in London. Sean Robinson is studying for an MFA in poetry writing at St. Andrews under Don Paterson. An erstwhile policy wonk, he graduated in 2013 from Oxford with a bachelors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and worked for some time with the Civil Service, until deciding to chuck it all in to do something useful, and write poems. He is from London. Lessons from the School of Night are an irregular series of video or audio interviews and tips from poets and writers who visit St Andrews. The School of Night – inspired by the group which included Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh – is Topping & Company Booksellers' Year-Round Poetry Festival in St Andrews. Curated with the help of Don Paterson and playing host to poets as varied as Paul Muldoon and Lorraine Mariner, Simon Armitage and Annie Freud, it is anchored to a regular fixture on the last Tuesday of the month. The School of Night offers the chance to explore and discuss the work of some of the best poets on the contemporary scene. For more details on these and other events, please visit the Topping & Company website. Music: Luvva by Heman Sheman. Image: Johnny Adolphson

It's not so much about imagery or language as it is about longing for that human connection. It's imagining yourself into another life in order to connect with it and be less isolated. And that is the case in my poetry as well - imagination is a way of reaching other people. — Polly Clark Sean Robinson met with Polly Clark at Toppings bookshop, after her appearance at the School of Night, where she read from her novel Larchfield. They discussed the difference between writing a novel and writing a poem, as well as the roles of imagination and location in the writing process. Polly also read her poem 'Heaven' (at 14m55s). Polly Clark was born in Toronto and lives in Helensburgh on Scotland’s west coast, close to where W.H. Auden wrote The Orators. She is Literature Programme Producer for Cove Park, Scotland’s International Artist Residency Centre, and the author of three poetry collections. She won the MsLexia Prize for Larchfield, the Eric Gregory Award, and has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Larchfield will be published by Quercus under their riverrun imprint March 2017. Her pamphlet A Handbook for the Afterlife was shortlisted in the 2016 Michael Marks Awards and a volume of New and Selected Poems, Afterlife, is due in 2018. Sean Robinson is studying for a masters in poetry writing at St. Andrews under Don Paterson. An estwhile policy wonk, he graduated in 2013 from Oxford with a bachelors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and worked for some time with the Civil Service, until deciding to chuck it all in to do something useful, and write poems. He is from London. Lessons from the School of Night are an irregular series of video or audio interviews and tips from poets and writers who visit St Andrews. The School of Night – inspired by the group which included Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh – is Topping & Company Booksellers' Year-Round Poetry Festival in St Andrews. Curated with the help of Don Paterson and playing host to poets as varied as Paul Muldoon and Lorraine Mariner, Simon Armitage and Annie Freud, it is anchored to a regular fixture on the last Tuesday of the month. The School of Night offers the chance to explore and discuss the work of some of the best poets on the contemporary scene. For more details on these and other events, please visit the Topping & Company website. Photo Credit: Johnny Adolphson, http://johnny-adolphson.pixels.com/

Suzannah V. Evans met with Robert Crawford after his Centre Stage reading for StAnza poetry festival. They talked about the nature of place in poetry, the importance of writing economically, and the challenges of combining a day job with creative writing. Robert also read his poems St Andrews (at 15m38s) and Chorus (at 16m47s). Robert Crawford’s seventh full-length collection of poems is Testament (Cape, 2014), and his most recent biography is Young Eliot (Vintage, 2016). Co-editor of The Penguin Book of Scottish Verse, he has worked on several collaborative projects with the Edinburgh-based photographer Norman McBeath, including Chinese Makars (Easel Press, 2016). He has also collaborated with the Hamburg-based artist Caroline Saltzwedel, with whom he is due to launch Fire (Hirundo Press) in 2017. His awards include the Saltire Society’s Scottish Book of the Year Award. He is Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews. Suzannah V. Evans was born in London and studied at the universities of St Andrews and York. She has worked in publishing and recently as a sound technician, translator, and interpreter for StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews. Her poetry and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Eborakon, The North, New Welsh Review, Tears in the Fence, and RAUM. Photo Credit: Eliana Berger

Suzannah spoke with Vahni Capildeo ahead of her Centre Stage reading at the StAnza poetry festival. They discussed growing up in a multilingual culture, thinking in things other than language, constructing prose poems, and the different kinds of audiences that a poet might encounter. Vahni also read her poems 'Louise Bourgeois: Insomnia Drawings' (at 9m53s) and 'Slaughterer' (at 13m14s). Vahni Capildeo is a Trinidadian British writer whose five books and two pamphlets include Measures of Expatriation (Carcanet, 2016), Simple Complex Shapes (Shearsman, 2015) and Utter (Peepal Tree, 2013). She holds a PhD in Old Norse and is interested in multilingualism, creative reworkings, and the boundaries between the human and the natural. Her collaborative work on performance and installation includes responses to Euripides' Bacchae, 'Radical Shakespeare', and Martin Carter's revolutionary writings from Guyana. The Harper-Wood Studentship (St John's College, Cambridge) supported her travel for research during 2015-16. Capildeo was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Collection for Measures of Expatriation in 2016. Suzannah V. Evans was born in London and studied at the universities of St Andrews and York. She has worked in publishing and recently as a sound technician, translator, and interpreter for StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews. Her poetry and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Eborakon, The North, New Welsh Review, Tears in the Fence, and RAUM. Photo Credit: Suzannah V. Evans

The first Lesson from the School of Night, featuring poet Sam Riviere, author of 81 Austerities (Faber & Faber 2012), winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, Standard Twin Fantasy (Eggbox, 2014), and Kim Kardashian’s Marriage (Faber & Faber, 2015).