Heading south

In Dunedin, South Island. Probably furthest south have ever been in my life. Hope to get a bit further down to see the albatross colony here.

Went to an interesting rehearsal of the American play,'Wit', on my last night at Waikato on Thurs.

Hoping to see some theatre here too. Back home, one of my short plays won a trophy at York Theatre Royal last week. The York press described my piece as 'Minghella-esque', which I was very pleased about.

Went to a museum and art gallery today - both fascinating and, like most things here, not as stuffy as in UK. The museum had a fascinating art exhibition in it (they do seem to mix art and history a lot here). This was on 'War Brides' i.e. women who had married NZ soldiers and moved over here (several from Canada as well as UK). Hope this gets to tour in UK, as think it would resonate there.

Poetry, Matt Harvey at 'Seven' last night

I've been a regular at 'Wicked Words' at Seven Arts Centre in Chapel Allerton, Leeds since it opened (and before even, when it was at 'The Police Station' - no, not literally - and before that at Host Media Centre, Chapeltown, and way back at 'Casbah')

'Seven' has a welcoming and lively atmosphere,and 'Wicked Words' open mic has that rare quality of being more about encouragement than showing-off. Last night I read two new poems, one inspired by Mumbai, the other 'A Bit of a Goose' seasonal fun.

The guest poet was Radio 4's 'Saturday Live' Matt Harvey, also ex-Guardian Desktop Poetry columnist - billed as 'poet, columnist, enemy of all that’s difficult and upsetting'.

It was good also to meet Julian Jordan of 'WriteOutLoud' website fame (which is an excellent site much appreciated by poets who use it) and hear some of his poetry. He also offered to publicise the play-writing course I'll be tutoring at University of York in the new year - so good on yer, Julian. (I'll blog on details of that later.)

It was all very cheering on a misty, rainy November night.