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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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).