The Moon & Flowers

On Midsummer Day The Moon & Flowers was launched at Chesters Walled Garden, where it can be heard throughout the summer in the arbour in the far corner of the garden. You can also listen to it on the New Writing North website.

Copies of the publication are available from the Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, or by post (cheques for £5 made payable to Queen's Hall Arts Centre) from Linda France, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 7RU.

Poetry Reading Group

LINDA AND ANNA WOODFORD are hosting a new poetry reading group at Northern Stage, Newcastle. There have been two meetings so far, looking at Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters and Sharon Olds's Selected Poems. Both sessions were lively and well-attended, designed for everyone interested in poetry, those new and a little nervous, as well as more familiar readers. The books under consideration are announced on the website, with dates, times and how to get a discount at Blackwell's. There is also space to add your own comments to Anna and Linda's blog and continue the conversation.www.poetrybookgroup.com

Sofia upon Tyne

Since 2005 Linda has been working with poets Andy Croft, W.N. Herbert and Mark Robinson on a translation project, making English versions of the work of Bulgarian poets Kristin Dimitrova, Georgi Gospodinov, Nadya Radulova and VBV. The first fruits of this work are contained in Balkan Exchange, published by Arc, 2007. As well as the poems by the Bulgarian poets, in both languages, introduced by the English poets, there are also poems about Bulgaria by the English poets, written from their various visits. New Writing North are continuing to support the next phase, which involves the Bulgarians translating the English poets and the resulting anthology will be published in Sofia.

Nadya Radulova (pictured right) is also translating a larger selection of Linda's work for publication. When she was in England to launch Balkan Exchange, she and Linda made the following recording of one of her poems, in English and in Bulgarian. It is called Fairy Lights and can be found in the anthology, available from Arc.