Skip to main content

Future Proof

My old desk of two of my three years at university (looking remarkably clear of clutter). I'm a sad bastard for taking and keeping this photo, but there's something strange about leaving behind a battered old piece of wood from a rented student house, no less one that served me well through writing all sorts of stuff, some of it good, some of it grossly bad.


Though the weather continues to catch me off guard without an umbrella, there’s plenty of interesting stuff coming up over the next few weeks to keep me occupied and suitably distracted. Firstly, I’m part of a reviews team for the Latitude Festival this coming week, held at Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk from 12th - 15th July, featuring a wide variety of artists including Arcade Fire, CSS, and Jarvis Cocker. Whilst I’m there I’ll be covering the Poetry and Literary stages, amongst a few other things, the former of which includes performances by writers including Simon Armitage, Clare Pollard, Roger McGough, Tim Wells, as well as Luke Wright and his hugely successful stand-up poetry collective, Aisle 16, among many others. More details on the festival are available here. Also, I received a package in the post from Faber today, which contained a proof copy of Nick Laird’s new collection, On Purpose, officially due out in August. I’ll be reading it over the next couple of weeks, then, and after Latitude’s over, writing a review for the winter issue of luminous Dublin-based magazine, The Stinging Fly. I’m really never happier than when I’m reading and/or writing, hence the inclusion of the picture above. And at the moment I have plenty to be mulling over and scribbling. Time to get back to researching, then, and most importantly and enjoyably, reading.