A note on: appearing on BBC Azeri world service, my performance for Khadija Ismayilova

An amazing day - the English PEN modern literature festival, before more on the whole undertaking, here is a video of my performance celebrating Khadija Ismayilova, which involved a video collaboration with Josh Alexander and then a performance with a book and a multivocal reading involving 9 other poets in attendance.

I also had the chance to speak to the Vusal Hamzayev from the BBC Azeri world service, and this interview was broadcast the same day, available here http://www.bbc.com/azeri/multimedia/2016/04/160402_modern_literature_festival

Teaching Beckett for the Rest is Noise study evening at the Southbank centre

Teaching Beckett is frightening. Teaching Beckett at the Southbank centre, in the QEH hall, as part of the groundbreaking Rest is Noise festival, at a free evening study course open to the general public for free is even more so. Teaching alongside Tom Service and Charlottle de Ville, even more so yet again. But it went proper well, a small generous group of people, amazing support staff at the Southbank, and my focus on the ethical engagement /disengagement of Beckett through paradox and disjunction in language was well received, not having the skill or expertise to make a proper ham of historical fact or textual analysis. I just waffled with purpose and read excerpts from Worstward ho! It could hardly go wrong. Charlotte and Tom were both inspiring to hear, I genuinely spent hours after the evening, which felt an easy 150 minutes (!) researching what they were speaking about. I hadn’t come across Tom Service before, but his work is really amazing with the BBC radio and the guardian, and I was at Wigmore hall just a few days later, rediscovering my discovery of classical music.