Oxfam's Marylebone High Street shop last Thursday evening hosted a poetry reading event, one of many events in this year's Oxfam Bookfest, which I mentioned in a post on 26 June.
With scarcely an empty chair in the shop and softened up by a glass or two of wine and the summery evening heat, we heard readings by eight very different English-language poets from around the world. The name given to the event was 'Christopher Reid and Guests' and I suppose the best-known of the poets was Christopher Reid himself, the winner of last year Costa's best poetry book award as well as their overall Best Book of the Year for A Scattering, a collection of poems dealing with his loss of his wife to cancer. But each of the poets brought something different to an evening of considerable variety and energy, with poems that explored miso soup, the French Revolution, Thesalonius Monk and a great deal more besides.
Rather than try to do justice to each writer, I've decided to give you the opportunity to read more about these poets and enjoy a little of their work by clicking on their names in this list:
Christopher Horton
Rachel Lehrman
Declan Ryan
Kelina Gotman
Sam Riviere
John Menaghan
Paul Perry
Christopher Reid
It was a fine evening, and I hope Oxfam managed to raise some cash from it. Another poetry evening, Days of Roses, is taking place at Oxfam Marylebone tomorrow evening. For news of other events in the Oxfam Bookfest 2010, which runs until 17 July, click here.
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