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Articles by Alison Brackenbury
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An admission: I am not very keen on writing biographical notes about myself, but I am told they may be useful. If you need any facts which are not rattling around the bare bones which follow, please contact me via the Home Page. You might also like to try the articles and interview listed below. Alison Brackenbury was born in 1953 in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. She went to the village school at Willoughton and then to Brigg High School. She studied for an English degree at St Hugh's College, Oxford. She has worked as a librarian in a technical college (1976-83), then as a part-time accounts and clerical assistant (1985-1989). Since 1990 she has worked in the family metal finishing business. She is married, with one daughter, and lives in Gloucestershire. I am always pleased to be asked to do a reading and will always do my best to go. Unfortunately my job makes it impossible for me to travel during working hours on a weekday, so I am normally only available for weekend events. My recent readings include appearances at Cheltenham Literary Festival, and Ledbury Poetry Festival. I judged the Poetry Business Competition, 2007. I was one of the judges for the Plough Prizes, 2004 and 2005. I was a member of the judging panel for the National Poetry Competition, 2005. I welcome invitations to judge poetry competitions, providing this does not involve long-distance weekday travel. Articles on my work appear in: DICTIONARY OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY 40 OXFORD COMPANION TO TWENTIETH CENTURY POETRY WORLD AUTHORS 1995-2000 Articles by Alison Brackenbury Singing in the dark: Edward Thomas
and traditional song. The water is wide: did English folk song sink? (2: Singers). The water is wide: did English
Folk song sink? (1:Poets) Mind the Gap: the Poem and the
Radio. The Muse and the Mouse (Internet
poetry) The restoration of Lucy Hutchinson
PN Review, Vol 27, No 5, 2001, p. 9. Dark wings (Adam Thorpe and Matthew
Sweeney) Tower Poetry Website, August 2007 Melted (Daljit Nagra) Tower Poetry Website, March 2007 The music of the streets (Vona Groarke) Fluent musics (John F.Deane) Out of the box (Jane Hirshfield, Martin Espada, C.D.Wright, Adrienne
Rich) Earthed (U.A.Fanthorpe) Slanted (Sebastian Barker, David Harsent, Gerard Woodward) Scattering Eva (James Sheard) Open and shut (Jehane Markham, Graham Mort, Philip Callow and
Tamar Yoseloff) Where are your papers? (review of magazines featuring poetry in
translation) Four Corners of Earth (David H.W.Grubb, Frances Wilson, Robin
Ford, J.G.Nichols) The Listeners (Glyn Maxwell and Nick Laird) An interview (by Vicki Bertram) appears in
PN Review 132, Vol 26, No 4 (March-April 2000), pages 31-33. Eric Gregory Award, 1982 Cholmondeley Award, 1997 For the last 20 years, my poems have appeared regularly on BBC Radio 3 & 4. I scripted and narrated “After the guns: a letter to Wilfred Owen”, a feature on the “strange and startling” lesser-known poems of Wilfred Owen, broadcast on Radio 3 on 14 November, 2006, produced by Julian May. This included the poem “Last Entry”. I scripted “Singing in the Dark: Back to Brigg Fair”, a Twenty Minutes feature on Radio 3, broadcast on 7 July 2006, and produced by Julian May. This included the poem “Edward Thomas’ daughter.” Excerpts from reviews of “Singing in the Dark”: “The programme, produced by Julian May,
was a little gem, perceptive, reflective and moving.” “Alison Brackenbury enchants us with her “radio poem” about
a folk song – Brigg Fair-“ “Alison Brackenbury makes a glorious radio poem about finding the far-away folk roots of a song that inspired Delius, Grainger and the poet Edward Thomas”. (Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph, 7.7.06) “Using as her starting point the history of the tune Brigg
Fair – folk singer Joseph Taylor’s rendition was heard
by Percy Grainger, who recorded it on wax cylinders and “gave” it
to Delius - Alison Brackenbury has crafted a dramatic lyric piece.
It weaves personal memory and history around glimpses of these
Gypsy tunes. Filigreed with images of light and dark throughout,
it’s evocative, amusing and utterly compelling”. I also scripted and narrated "Bricks and Brothels", a feature about Cheltenham, broadcast on Radio 3 on 1 July, 2005, and produced by Julian May. This included the poems "The Blue Door", "Dawn Run", "A.Pennington", "Architect", "Affairs", "Night Shift" and "Xerxes: an opera". This programme was selected as a Radio Times Choice. The poem "1829" was a Radio 3 feature, produced by Julian May. I have also been interviewed and read poems on "Night Waves" (Radio 3) and "Woman's Hour." I have had poems published in "The Glasgow Herald", "The Independent" and "The Sunday Times" and in the following magazines: Acumen, Agenda, Bonfire, Boomerang,The Chimaera, Critical Quarterly, The Jacaranda Review (USA), The Kenyon Review (USA), The Listener, The London Magazine, The London Review of Books, Magma, Metre, Modern Poetry in Translation, New Statesman, The North, Nthposition, Other Poetry, Ploughshares (USA), PN Review, Poetry London, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, The Reader, The Rialto, Scintilla, THE SHOp, Signals, Smiths Knoll, Smoke, Snakeskin, The Spectator, Stand, The Times Literary Supplement, Thumbscrew. Dreams of Power. Carcanet, 1981. Breaking Ground. Carcanet, 1984. Christmas Roses. Carcanet, 1987. N.B. A selection of the poems in these books is still available in Selected poems. Carcanet,
1991. which can be ordered via the Books page on this site, or from http://www.carcanet.co.uk I am one of the Poetry School’s online tutors . One off
tutorials involving comment on a selection of work are available
via The Poetry School.
Please contact The Poetry School for up to date details, including
fee. |
Contact
Alison Brackenbury
©2002-2008 Alison Brackenbury
Website maintained by Helen Whitehead last
amended
21-Jan-2008