Anne–Marie Fyfe : Poet

Anne-Marie Fyfe, poet, creative-writing teacher, arts-organiser & former Chair of the Poetry Society, (2006-2009), was born in Cushendall in the Glens of Antrim and now lives in West London.

Anne-Marie Fyfe has:

• published four volumes of poetry, including Understudies: New and Selected Poems (Seren Books, 2010);
• won the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition with her poem Curaçao Dusk;
• been Aldeburgh’s Poetry Trust Writer-in-Residence;
• established Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour in 1997 and organised and hosted regular fortnightly Monday readings and weekend workshops and seminars since;
• chaired the national Poetry Society from 2006 to 2009;
• co-organised the John Hewitt Spring Festival in the Glens of Antrim since 2003 and organised readings and creative-writing classes at the John Hewitt International Summer School since 1996;
• run poetry classes, readings and workshops;
• organised and hosted poetry events and festivals, and has talked on poets, poetry & the poetry world on TV & radio;
• interviewed a wide range of well known poets and figures from the world of literature.

Current projects…

• 2012-2013: editing an anthology of 20c/21c poems on hotels and motels by contemporary poets to be published by Coffee-House Poetry, in conjunction with workshops on the theme at the Troubadour and around the country…
• Mar-Apr 2012, Readings/Workshops, NYC & New England…
• Sep-Oct South-of-France poetry/creative-writing week (residential)

Forthcoming readings and events…

• Mon 30 Jan, Poetry Reading featuring Anne-Marie Fyfe. Organised by Bangor University at The Management Centre, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2SW. 8.00 pm – 10.00 pm. Tickets: Free Entry. Contact: Ian Gregson 01248 351529 / i.gregson@bangor.ac.uk. Supported by Literature Wales.
• Sat 11 Feb, Workshop for Bluegate Poets, Swindon, Wiltshire
• Sun 19 Feb, 12 – 3.30 pm, An Exaltation of Larks, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe for Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour, Earls Court
• Sun 11 Mar, 12 – 3.30 pm, Late Check-Out, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe for Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour, Earls Court
• Wed 21 Mar—Sun 15 Apr, Readings/Workshops, NYC & New England…
• Sat 21 Apr, 10th Hewitt Spring Festival in the Antrim Glens, Londonderry Arms Hotel, Carnlough, Co. Antrim
• Wed 20 Jun, 7.30 for 8 pm, Bedford Park Festival. Chiswick
  Poetry Evening — with special guest, music, refreshments, hosted by local poets Anne-Marie Fyfe & Cahal Dallat
  Venue: St. Michael & All Angels Hall, opp. Turnham Green tube station, Bath Road London W4 1TX
• Mon 23—Fri 27 Jul, Twenty-Fifth Annual John Hewitt International Summer School, at Marketplace Theatre, Armagh City …with a full five-day festival programme of creativity and culture
• Sep-Oct (dates to be confirmed) South-of-France poetry/creative-writing week (residential) with Anne-Marie Fyfe

Reviews etc…

• Mike Bartholomew-Biggs reviews Anne-Marie Fyfe and John Godfrey on London Grip
• Kathryn Maris reviews Sweeney and Fyfe in Poetry London #69, Summer 2011
• Carol Rumens writes on Interstate by Anne-Marie Fyfe as Guardian Poem of the Week
• Andrew Neilson reviews Fyfe, McVety and O’Riordan in Magma 49, Spring 2011
• Understudies reviewed by Katrina Naomi on Eyewear
• Interview with Pam Johnson on Words Unlimited
• Understudies reviewed by Kevin Higgins in The Week, Galway Advertiser, 3rd March 2011
• Emily Dickinson as a Poet I Go Back To in issue 46 of The North
• Understudies reviewed by Ian Gregson in New Welsh Review, #91, Spring 2011
• Understudies reviewed by Jackie Wills in Warwick Review Vol.4 No.4 Dec 2010
• October’s Troubadour Week in the Land of the Troubadours

Recent Events

• Fri 20 Jan, 8 pm, Poets Café, South Street, Anne-Marie Fyfe & C.L. Dallat, introduced by A.F. Harrold, Reading, Berkshire
• Tue 17 Jan, 6 pm, Interview and reading for American Midwest Colleges by Anne-Marie Fyfe at the Troubadour (closed event), Earls Court
• Wed 16 Nov, 7.30 pm, Bath Poetry Cafe Anne-Marie Fyfe with Bluegate Poets and Brickwork Poets, at Elwin Room, BRLSI, Queen Square, Bath
• Sat 1 Oct—Sat 8 Oct, Poetry/creative-writing week (residential) with Anne-Marie Fyfe at Old Olive Press/Almàssera Vella, Relleu, Alicante
• Tue 26 Jul, 11.30 am, Anne-Marie Fyfe interviews Jorie Graham at Hewitt Summer School (below)
• Mon 25 Jul, 8 pm Anne-Marie Fyfe introduces opening-night Poetry Reading with Jorie Graham and Paul Muldoon at the Twenty-Fourth John Hewitt International Summer School, 25-29 Jul at Marketplace Theatre, Armagh City …with a full five-day festival programme of creativity and culture including (poets) Paul Farley, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Mimi Khalvati, Harry Clifton, Kei Miller, Theo Dorgan, Jane Kirwan, Norbert Hirschhorn, (prose), Eva Hoffman, Ales Machacek, Dermot Healy, John Boyne, Kevin Barry and many more with lectures by Patrick Crotty, Keith Jeffrey, Fran Brearton, Nicholas Grene plus art, music, drama, debate, discussion and all-week creative-writing options in poetry, memoir, scriptwriting, prose and drama…
• Sat 2 Jul, Troubadour Poets, Anne-Marie Fyfe, Paul Stephenson and Phil Hancock at Ledbury Festival, Ledbury, Gloucestershire
• Sat 25 Jun, 10 am- 3 pm, Brief Encounters, creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe on the theme of trains, railway journeys, stations, platforms, waiting rooms, missed connections… for Mendham Writers, Walthamstow
• Wed 22 Jun, 7.30 for 8 pm, Bedford Park Festival. Chiswick
  Some Beautiful Morning: The Poetry of Daybreak — with special guest, Blake Morrison
  Plus usual themed music, refreshments, hosted by local poets Anne-Marie Fyfe & Cahal Dallat
  Venue: St. Michael & All Angels Hall, opp. Turnham Green tube station, Bath Road London W4 1TX
  Info: www.bedfordparkfestival.org, programme
• Sat 18 & Sun 19 Jun, 12 – 3.30 pm, Charting The Heavens, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe for Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour, Earls Court
• Sat 4 Jun, 6.30 – 8 pm, Three Voices: Poetry Reading with Anne-Marie Fyfe, Ruth Padel and James Byrne, Keats House Festival, Hampstead
• Sat 4 Jun, 2 – 5 pm, Exploring Rooms, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe, Keats House Festival, Hampstead
• Wed 1 Jun, 3 – 4 pm, Anne-Marie Fyfe on Living in the Poetry World, talk/discussion, Keats House Summer Festival: Inspiration, Hampstead
• Sun 29 May, 12 – 3.30 pm, Journey Without Maps, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe for Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour, Earls Court
• Sat 7 May, 4.30 pm, Poetry Reading featuring Anne-Marie Fyfe, Moyra Donaldson and Mairide Woods as part of Ninth John Hewitt/Glens of Antrim Spring Festival at Londonderry Arms, Carnlough, on the Antrim Coast: full Sat-Sun programme includes Rita-Ann Higgins, Michael Foley, Eoin McNamee, Iggy McGovern, Kate Newmann plus Great Northern Novel debate and Glens-of-Antrim literary tour
• Mon 2 May, 9 pm, Poetry Reading featuring Anne-Marie Fyfe at Ó Bhéal, Cork
• Mon 2 May, 7 pm, Journey Without Maps, themed writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe at Ó Bhéal, Cork 7pm
• Fri 25 Mar, The Lure of Libraries, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe at Omagh Public Library
• Fri 24 Mar, The Lure of Libraries, themed creative-writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe at Dungannon Public Library
• Sun 20 Mar, Journey Without Maps, themed writing workshop with Anne-Marie Fyfe, 12-3.30pm at the Troubadour
• Thu 10 Mar, Bath Spa University’s Stand Up Poetry Series, 8pm, Duncan Room, Bath Royal Scientific and Literary Institution, Queen’s Square, Bath, reading featuring Hilary Menos & Anne-Marie Fyfe
• Thu 3 Feb, Understudies Glens of Antrim launch, and poetry reading with Ballycastle born poet C.L. Dallat, (The Year of Not Dancing) as part of Dalriada Festival:, 8pm at Thyme & Co, Quay Road, Ballycastle (Free)
• Fri 21 Jan, Understudies Galway launch, 6.30pm
  at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Cornstore Mall, Middle Street, Galway (Free)
• Thu 20 Jan, Understudies Belfast launch, Queens Quarter (Invitation Only)
• Mon 17 Jan, epiphanies: with David Briggs, Ruth Fainlight, Anne-Marie Fyfe, Allison McVety, Katherine Kilalea, Ellen Cranitch, Anna-May Laugher, Diana Pooley and Henry Fajemirokun, 8pm at the Troubadour

                                                                                                                                                                                     ...with Seamus Heaney and C.L. Dallat at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh (photo: Ulster Tatler)

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