Diary

At Gatwick South Terminal waiting for my Norwegian Airlines plane to Madrid. Last night's reading at the London Review Bookshop must rank as one of the more memorable ones. Tickets were sold out and the bookshop packed with about 80 people. Michael Schmidt spoke about the net of PN Review/Carcanet that welcomes all schools of fish. The first to read, I had a slight sore throat and so paused a couple of times, but carried on like the National Service-trained soldier that I am. The most enjoyable moment for me was to refer briefly to the banning of Lee Tzu Pheng's poem "My Country and My People" from the airwaves because it was deemed insufficiently enthusiastic about nation-building. It was a pleasure to hear the four contributors to New Poetries VI, Rebecca Watts, Joey Connolly-Wright, Vahni Capildeo, and John Clegg. Get the anthology to hear the most exciting poetic voices now in the UK.

After the reading, I met Richard Price and enjoyed talking to him. Also spoke briefly with Kei Miller, and wished we had more time. Was chuffed that Richard and Kei bought my book. Also managed to tell Alison Brackenbury how much I loved her horse poems even in Singapore, before I left for NY. Song-Khoon Lim, your signed copies are waiting for you at the bookshop. Afterwards, Paul, Alphonse, Mary and I went for drinks at The Admiral by Trafalgar Square. Delicious Pimm's, made with sloe gin instead of lemonade. Paul and Al brought us to the rooftop bar of the Hilton, where they are staying, and we enjoyed a sweeping view of the area, the National Portrait Gallery in one direction, the London Eye in another, and Big Ben in yet another. We were nearly as tall as Lord Nelson, not quite, but nearly nearly. One more reading. Hola, Madrid!

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