Next Buzzwords - Sunday, 6th July
Workshop, led by Anna Saunders, 7pm
Guest readings and open mic 8pm
Guest poets: Wendy Klein and Anna Saunders
Upstairs at The Exmouth Arms, Bath Road, Cheltenham
£5 waged, £3 unwaged
Wendy Klein was born in New York and brought up in California. Disillusioned with U.S. politics and the Vietnam War, she left, never to return, in 1964. She has lived in Sweden, France and Germany, coming to roost in England in1971. She has won and been commended in many poetry competitions (notably The Ware 2009 and The Torriano 2010) and is published widely in magazines and anthologies.
Her two collections from Cinnamon Press have been praised by Peter Carpenter: ‘Wendy Klein’s poems ponder the tugs of the past on collision course with distinctive rhythmic control and technical finesse.’ ‘There is,’ says Myra Schneider ‘a great immediacy in her writing and the way she brings to life the experiences, characters and complex feelings of people.’ Her material ranges from the intensely personal, a family background skewed and disrupted by her mother’s early death, her travels to Cuba, Vietnam, Mongolia and India, to her love of dogs, dance and her daughters.
Jane Draycott comments that ‘several continents run richly in Wendy Klein’s blood, and with her strongly cinematic imagination and energetic, delicate musicality, she maps and sings them powerfully.’ She is currently musing on a 3rd collection.
Anna Saunders is the director of Cheltenham Poetry Festival and the author of two collections of poetry – Communion (Wild Conversations Press ) and Struck, ( Pindrop Press).
Communion was praised for its ‘lush imagery and music’, by Nigel McLoughlin and was described as comprising of ‘moving poems of flesh and spirit from ‘ears finely tuned’ by Alison Brackenbury.
Anna’s second collection, Struck, weaves myth, art, autobiographical material and fantasy in an journey through love, grief and heartache.
Struck has been described as ‘a very fine, beautifully sustained collection by a gifted poet whose work is unfolding in remarkable directions’ by Nick Drake and she has been described as ‘a poet of quite remarkable gifts’ by Bernard O’Donaghue.
Anna’s work has been published in journals and anthologies which include Ambit, The North and Amaryllis. She has recently completed a Masters in Creative and Critical Writing at The University of Gloucestershire.
