The End of my Laureateship

From left to right: Matt Nunn, Jane Holland (me!), Jane Commane, at the Warwick Castle launch of Matt and Jane's new Nine Arches Press, whose first publication is my Laureateship poetry pamphlet, "On Warwick"

So, about a week ago, I very cheerfully handed over the Warwick Poet Laureateship to Cathy Whittaker, who will hold that post from 2008-09, and am now free as a bird. She says, ironically. In fact, I have so many irons in the fire right now, I'm in serious danger of burning my little pinkies.

I'm now studying at Warwick part-time (part-time has actually worked out as four days a week though, so it's more like full than part-time), sending out my teen fantasy novel in the hope of finding a buyer, continuing to work on new poems, editing issue two of Horizon Review, and possibly adapting my long poem "On Warwick Castle" for the stage.

In other words, life is challenging at the moment (especially when it comes to finding somewhere to park at Warwick University!) and far more pressured than before. Hence the absence of blogging in recent weeks.

Indeed, I've had to turn down several offers of work this month alone because I simply don't have time to squeeze in any more commitments. But no doubt as the year moves on I'll grow accustomed to this more rapid pace of life and feel able to take on new projects. For which, watch this space!

During my Laureateship, I wrote my long poem, "On Warwick Castle", and published that last week in pamphlet form along with other Warwick-related poems in a pamphlet from Nine Arches Press, plus wrote several locally commissioned pieces, as well as six riddle poems for Tescos and sixteen poems to accompany Anand Chhabra's photographs in the Warwick Words Poetry & Photography Exhibition. I also visited a few schools in the region as Poet Laureate, and performed at a number of social events, including a rather delicious fish and chip fund-raising supper at the medieval Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick.

Meanwhile, although I shall miss being so closely involved with poetry in the Warwickshire region, I'm excited to be turning back to my own personal writing projects, and wish the new Laureate, Cathy Whittaker, all the very best in her year ahead!

More Festival info: POETRY

Warwick Words Festival: 2-5 October 2008

We have a feast of poetry for you at this year’s festival including JOOLZ DENBY, JO SHAPCOTT, JANE HOLLAND, FELIX DENNIS,and BRIAN PATTEN.

Tickets are now available from the Box Office: 01926 776438
For further information please see our web site www.warwickwords.co.uk

JOOLZ DENBY
Masterclass – Thursday 2 October from 2.00pm – 5.00pm at the Friends Meeting House
In Conversation with Joolz Denby – Thursday 2 October at 7.30pm at the Lord Leycester Hospital

JO SHAPCOTT
Imaginative Logic workshop – Friday 3 October from 2,00pm – 5.00pm in Northgate Church Hall

FELIX DENNIS
An event not to be missed! – Friday 3 October at 8.00pm in the Bridge House Theatre
Lots of free wine included (over 18’s)!

BRIAN PATTEN
Gargling with Jelly – Poetry Reading for kids and parents – Saturday 4 October at 3.00pm in the Bridge House Theatre

Growing up Before Your Very Eyes- Saturday 4 October at 7.30pm at the Bridge House Theatre

POETRY CAFÉ with JANE HOLLAND (that's me!)
Thursday 2 and Friday 3 October from 11.00am – 4.00pm in Thomas Oken Tea Rooms, just off Jury Street, Warwick

JANE HOLLAND (and that's me again!)
Warwick Poetry with the Laureate – Sunday 5 October from 2.00pm in the Coach House, Warwick Castle.

This is a book launch event - launching "On Warwick" from Nine Arches Press, a year's worth of poetry written for the Laureateship by Jane Holland, including her long poem "On Warwick Castle".

Warwick Castle poems

Some of you may remember that one of my major ambitions as Warwick Poet Laureate this year has been to produce a number of poems based around the theme of 'Warwick Castle through the ages'.

In connection with that project, I've been meaning to visit Warwick Castle for several months, and finally found the time to go last week. And it was certainly a splendid visit, highly inspiring, and I took reams of notes in my little black book ... facts, feelings, odd phrases that leapt into my head as I wandered around, and even a few lines ready formed.

But there was so much to see, I couldn't possibly take it all in during one afternoon visit. Especially as I had a small child in tow!



So I intend to visit the castle again on my own before Easter, and probably again in early summer, by which time I'm hoping some of the poems about Warwick Castle should have been written and will only require revisions.

Meanwhile, I have to put my third poetry collection - entitled Camper Van Blues - to bed this month, i.e. prepare it for publication at Salt Publishing.

It's a fiddly and stressful process for a poet to go through, making up to sixty or seventy poems 'public' in book form. Every comma needs to be questioned, every line debated. So I could do without having so many sick children in the house, not to mention being unwell myself this week!

And meanwhile, the Warwick Castle project has to remain on the back burner, simmering away in my subconscious.



Still, some of the photos I took should act as a visual reminder of my visit and may help to keep my mind focussed once my third collection is safely at the publishers and I'm able to sit down and work on these new poems.

Sir Fulke Greville: first poet-in-residence at Warwick?

In my quest to write poems about Warwick, I've been investigating the history of the town. Amongst other fascinating things I've turned up - the recent Mop fairs, for instance! - is the fact that one of the earliest Lords of Warwick Castle was Sir Fulke Greville (1554 - 1628), an Elizabethan courtier-poet and statesman.


Most famous for his close friendship with the poet Philip Sidney, Greville was born in Warwickshire and attended Shrewsbury School. Later, as a royal courtier, he was made 1st Baron Lord Brooke by James I. This was in recognition of his services to the crown, particularly in the Treasury.

Now a peer of the realm, Fulke Greville was also granted Warwick Castle.

He made substantial improvements to the Castle, allegedly amounting to some £20,000 - a vast sum in those days! It became his pet project, and he was still working on the renovations when he died in 1628, attacked by a disgruntled servant.


The most fascinating part of this story, for me at least, is that Sir Fulke Greville was clearly the first poet-in-residence at Warwick!

A member of the élite literary group, the 'Areopagus', along with the likes of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Edward Dyer, Greville was a poet of high seriousness, keen to import classical metre into English verse, which he presumably saw as lagging behind the rest of European literature in the wake of the Italian Renaissance.

Influenced by the Italian poet Petrarch and his beautiful sonnets of unrequited love, Fulke Greville himself wrote sonnets as well as longer poems on difficult political and moral themes. A great intellectual, many of his poems have been criticised for being too obscure!

When his friend Sir Philip Sidney died on military campaign in the Netherlands, Greville famously wrote his biography, commemorating the greater poet's life and work.

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So that's the story of our first ever poet-in-residence at Warwick!

Over the coming months, I'm going to investigate Fulke Greville more closely, and hopefully some new poems of my own will come out of that investigation. Perhaps even a sonnet or two!

First of all, a fact-finding trip to Warwick Castle needs to be planned. Meanwhile, you can find out more about Sir Fulke Greville here on Wikipedia.