How excited are we? Pretty excited because July’s Word Soup is going to be something special.
We are thrilled to be hosting part of the Lapwing Poetry Tour with Ian Parks and Andrew Oldham heading a fantastic line-up, with David Cooke, Ron Scowcroft, Rachel McGladdery and Norman Hadley ensuring this event will be something to savour.
There will be our usual OPEN MIC slot – so get your running shoes on to be sure of your place for your Four Minutes of Fame – and more fabulous magic before 8pm and during the interval from Magic Mark.
Word Soup Poetry Special – Lapwing Tour – Thursday 28th July 2011
at The Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston PR1 8JP.
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Ian Parks was one of the Poetry Society New Poets in 1996. His collections include Shell Island, The Cage and Love Poems 1979-2009. Poems have appeared in Poetry Review, The Liberal, The London Magazine, and Poetry (Chicago), amongst numerous others.
The Landing Stage, his latest collection, is published by Lapwing, Belfast. Ian’s poetry has received numerous awards, including the Royal Literary Fund 2003, the Oppenheim Award 2001 & 2002, and the John Masefield Award 2001.
Ian is consultant editor for Dream Catcher, serves on the judging panel for the TMA theatre awards and reviews contemporary poetry for Poetry Quarterly Review. https://sites.google.com/a/lapwingpublications.com/lapwing-store/ian-parks
Ian has shared his knowledge and experience of selecting poems for publication with Lancashire Writing Hub readers.
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Andrew Oldham is an award winning writer and poet. His work has featured in The Sunday Times Magazine, Ambit, The London Magazine, and the North American Review, amonsgt many others, and his poetry has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please.
Ghosts of a Low Moon, his first collection, is published by Lapwing, Belfast. Andrew lives in Saddleworth where he curses rain and climbs trees to face North winds. www.andrewoldham.co.uk
Andrew has shared his considerable expertise on Contemporary Issues on Getting Published with Lancashire Writing Hub readers.
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David Cooke won a Gregory Award in 1977 and published Brueghel’s Dancers in 1984, but stopped writing for twenty years. His poems and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous journals such as Agenda, The Bow Wow Shop, Critical Quarterly, Cyphers, The Interpreter’s House, The Irish Press, The London Magazine, and numerous others.
David’s retrospective collection, In the Distance, has just been published by Night Publishing and a further collection, Work Horses will be published by Ward Wood Publishing in 2012. www.nightpublishing.com/david-cooke.html
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Ron Scowcroft: ‘It is the realisation and sounding of a clear vision that is impressive here.’ George Szirtes, Guardian Books
Ron Scowcroft’s poetry was shortlisted for the 2010 Templar Pamphlet Prize. His work has been regularly published in national magazines, including, most recently Flax, Snap Anthology (Templar), The Frogmore Papers and The New Writer. He is a member of April Poets and frequently works in collaboration with painter and print-maker, John M. Morrison; their Peninsula’ exhibition of visual art and poetry will be held at The Dukes Gallery, Lancaster, 16th – 31st August. www.ronscowcroft.co.uk
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Rachel McGladdery has been writing poetry seriously for around 2 years. She has performed at Word Soup in Preston several times, at Outspoken North in Clitheroe, Spotlight in Lancaster and has performed at open-mic events around the North West.
Rachel won the NXNW Slam in August 2010 at The Tudor House Wigan and also won the title of Liverpool Lennon Poet 2010 in November 2010 and was awarded with her trophy by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. She has been published in Mental Arts Virus Magazine, Made In Fleetwood magazine, Preston is my Paris Zine, Word Soup Year One and has poems in 2 Forward anthologies. She also has work published at The Pygmy Giant.
Rachel was featured Poet #72 in the Poetry Kit’s series, Caught In The Net, and has 3 poems in Dragonheart Press’s Winter Poets anthology, she was Somethingeveryday‘s guest poet 14-22nd June this year. Rachel lives in rural Lancashire with her 4 children and 2 cats and is a closet birdwatcher. www.writeoutloud.net/poets/rachelmcgladdery
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Norman Hadley is a poet from Garstang who also dabbles in prose. He has completed three and a half poetry collections, one of them being both diminutive and collaborative. The most recent, full-sized collection is “A Whoop Above the Dust”, September 2010.
When things refuse to rhyme, he writes prose – usually short, but including a couple of novel-length stories, The Lucky Krab and The Last Munro - the latter for children.
He is not yet quite reconciled to the fact that the quickest way to the truth is to make stuff up. But he’s slowly getting there.
In his day job, he designs heavy-duty diesel engines for ships and trains. The engines are considerably larger than the poems. www.normanhadley.com
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A Cauldron of Soup: Word Soup Special celebrating Halloween with a heady brew of literary talent from the North West. 
