LOUISE WARREN

Louise was born and grew up in the West Country and now lives in London. With a background in theatre, her first collection A Child’s Last Picture Book of the Zoo won the Cinnamon Press debut poetry competition and was published in 2012. A pamphlet In the scullery with John Keats, also published by Cinnamon, came out in 2016.  Her poems have been widely published in magazines including Ambit, The Rialto, Poetry Wales and Stand. In 2018 she won first prize in the Prole Laureate Poetry Competition with her poem ‘The Marshes’, which appears in John Dust.

Click to read more

Maitreyabandhu

Maitreyabandhu was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 1990, since when he has lived and worked at the London Buddhist Centre teaching Buddhism and meditation. In 2010, he founded Poetry East, a poetry venue exploring the relationship between spiritual life and poetry and attracting some of the finest poets writing today. His poetry has won numerous awards including the Keats-Shelley Prize, the Basil Bunting Award, the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize and in 2010 he won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition.
Please click to read his full blog and click here to read the FRP Interview with Maitreyabandhu.

Jinny Fisher

As a prelude to Jinny’s reading on 6^th June, she has provided Fire River with an illuminating summary about both her life and each step she has taken on her poetry journey. Worth taking note by potential poets who might follow the example Jinny sets and the way in which she has cultivated her talent. Her most recent success being the publication of her first pamphlet by V Press in 2018.  (Click for flyer)

Marc Woodward

Born in the USA but a long term resident of rural Devon, Marc Woodward is a poet and musician who has taught and performed internationally. His writing reflects his love of music as well as his passion for the rural environment – albeit with a dark undercurrent occasionally bordering on the macabre! 
Read the FRP Interview with Marc here

After last year’s acclaimed event at The Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre, join Taunton’s celebrated prize-winning poetry group for another evening of original verse in performance.
Witty, thought-provoking, powerful, humorous and richly varied, this an evening not be missed for poetry lovers everywhere. ‘Like a piece of ice on a hot stove, the poem rides on the ice of its own melting’ as the inimitable Robert Frost put it.
Bar and free entry. Click here for venue details. See you there!

Claire Williamson

Claire’s latest (of four) poetry collections Visiting the Minotaur was published by Seren in 2018. She has been highly commended in the Bridport Prize (2017) and was runner up in the Neil Gunn writing competition (2017) and the Sentinal Poetry Quarterly (2018). 
See also The FRP Interview with Claire conducted by Graeme Ryan