| 2007 Cheshire Poet Laureate
Jo Bell
Cheshire’s new Poet Laureate has a fondness for water – she lives on a 67-foot narrowboat. During her laureate year Jo plans to travel the Cheshire Ring, a circle of canal routes which take in almost the whole county calling at the Anderton Boat Lift, Northwich Salt Museum, Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival, Ellesmere Port and the Macclesfield Canal.
Cheshire’s waterways are some of the most beautiful and historic in the country. Jo uses them as source material for her own work, and wants other poets to do the same. ‘There’s a good deal of poetry about the sea, but not much about our rivers and canals,’ she says. The waterways are full of a sense of place – each has its own character and landmarks. Jo is planning to launch a poetry competition on the theme of waterways later in the year.
How do you write a winning poem? ‘You have to read contemporary poetry to have any hope of writing it well,’ she says. ‘Get hold of a good anthology and have a look at how lively and interesting poetry is now’. Jo’s other hint is this: ‘The devil is in the detail. Don’t use big sweeping words like ‘grief’ or ‘love’ – make us feel them by telling us the story of a single incident.’
She will be running workshops to help other poets develop the theme, and wants to hear from writers’ groups or individual who are interested.
Visit her website www.bell-jar.co.uk for an update.
Jo will also be keeping you up to date with her activities through monthly podcasts of readings and news of local poets and poetry/spoken word events across the county. |