April Catch Up

A terrific Easter break in Portugal with William Yeats, Frances Leviston and Emily Dickinson for company. The library in Rio Maior is named for Ruy Belo, the existentialist poet. I always forget to explore his work until I'm out there.  

Birthday wishes from my brother in St Kilda, Australia.

And an excellent treatment of my poem 'Handicap' by Sofia Buonvino.

Thanks guys!



There's a lot to look forward to in the next few months. In June I'll be walking the Marazion to Coverack legs of the Cornish coastal path as part of Becki Nevin's Wonderlust project - more details here. It's reminiscent of Simon Armitage's Walking Home/Walking Away projects, which I was also lucky enough to take part in, though with a more communal bent and including a variety of different artists. You can help with the crowdfunding here.

My Story Door project in Exeter has wrapped up, with a book launch at Exeter children's library in March. We are nearing completion of the parallel book by students at Ellacombe Academy in Torquay, which promises to be terrific! Can't wait for the launch later this month! I'm also hoping to get another more poetry-themed project off the ground in the summer term. 

A few publications - I've a review of Josh Ekroy's first collection in the new Interpreter's House while Tears in the Fence has a poem inspired by a character in Penelope Shuttle and Peter Redgroves' The Terrors of Dr Treviles.

I'm also glad to have a poem republished in Orange Coast Review by Davi Loren. I first placed a poem there back in the day. I only wish I could make the launch party.



Happy Easter!

February Catch Up

20th January: a warm reception at Devizes school, where I taught the winners of the John Betjeman Poetry Competition for Young People for an afternoon. It was a terrific afternoon, at least from my point of view!




Since moving to Somerset I've been doing a lot of creative writing teaching, with adults in care homes as part of the Making of Me project with the Courtyard, for which I was mentored by John Killick; and for Story Door, a charity which raises literacy in schools through creative writing. So far, we've been to trips to Babbacombe Model Village and Exeter Cathedral, and written acrostics and collage poems. Students in both Ellacombe Academy in Torquay and Wynstream School in Exeter will be publishing (and illustrating) their own books in March, with a launch at the library attended by parents with the accompaniment of cake,

I've had a few poems out in recent journals: 'After Peter Blake' in the beautifully produced Paris Lit Up, 'Classroom' in The North and 'A Grave Life' - by Ami - in Modern Poetry in Translation. I was also really pleased to have a poem in Other Countries - Contemporary Poets Rewiring History, edited by Claire Trevien and Gareth Prior.

A couple of reviews of Boxing the Compass have appeared:

For the reader who revisits poems, and is able to join in their making, there are many pleasures here.  

                                                                                     Jane Routh, Magma 60

Bryden displays a confidence which ensures that this first collection hits the target.

                                                                                      Louise Crossley, The Interpreter’s House 57

A review of Ami's The Desire to Sing after Sunset has appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal.

Lastly, I'll be delivering papers at a couple of conferences this year:

New Generation to Next Genereation in March, where I'll be talking about Glyn Maxwell.

In September, there is the Dreams as Deep As England Ted Hughes conference in Sheffield, at which I'll be discussing Hughes's collaborations with his friend, the painter and potter R.J. Lloyd. The two of them created four collections: What is the Truth, The Cat and the Cuckoo, The Mermaid's Purse and Earth Dances. He kindly allowed me to interview him at his home in Bideford last January, where I was treated to pea and ham soup with a fantastic Italian sherry.