Preserving the Penultimate: The Church and Healthcare in the Light Preserving the Penultimate brings two of the 20th century’s most renowned Christian thinkers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Albert Schweitzer, into conversation around the emerging possibilities of healthca...

Publication day! 🙂
www.jamesclarke.co/product/pres...

Preserving the Penultimate: The Church and Healthcare in the Light Preserving the Penultimate brings two of the 20th century’s most renowned Christian thinkers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Albert Schweitzer, into conversation around the emerging possibilities of healthca...

Just ten days now before the publication date...
www.jamesclarke.co/product/pres...

Food for thought:
80 years ago this week, George Orwell’s book, 'Animal Farm', an allegorical and cautionary novel about the corruption of truth and power in Soviet Russia, was published.

The South Bank Show: Philip Larkin YouTube video by Error Gorilla

I am grateful to a friend who recently reminded me of this splendid edition of The South Bank Show, portraying the Hull poet, Philip Larkin back in 1982, when Larkin was 60...
youtu.be/XdeEFErYVtk?...

Preserving the Penultimate by Robert M. Jaggs-Fowler | Waterstones Buy Preserving the Penultimate by Robert M. Jaggs-Fowler from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

As the bookseller says: 'Coming soon...'
www.waterstones.com/book/preserv...

Dermot Healy's 1994 novel, 'A Goat's Song' is remarkable. It has tragedy, history, natural history, unrequited love, metaphysics, mythology, existentialism, religion, the nature of consciousness, politics, and more. It has been called 'a great & masterful Irish novel'. It is hauntingly captivating.

RSA Connect Hull Join Director of Fellowship, Line Kristensen, and Chief Operating Officer, Sascha Taylor, with other RSA Fellows.

For any kindred Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts based in Northern Lincolnshire or East Yorkshire, there is a meeting at Hull University on the 12 March 2025. See below for details...
www.thersa.org/events/2025/...

The Subtle Art of Losing Yourself - Full Life Changing Documentary YouTube video by George Thompson

If you do nothing else today, set aside 45 minutes to quietly watch this film and then consider what effect it has on you and your well-being...
youtu.be/9KArWcMldPM?...

This new book from Bear Grylls retells the life of Jesus Best known for his survival skills, Bear Grylls turns his attention to the greatest story of all time-the life of Jesus Christ. In this bold and imaginative retelling, Grylls brings faith and adventur...

My review of Bear Gryll's latest book in Premier Christianity magazine:
www.premierchristianity.com/reviews/this...

Cover of The Poems of Seamus Heaney on a cream background

The final four lines of Seamus Heaney's poem, 'Postscript'

We are delighted to announce The Poems of Seamus Heaney. This is the long-awaited, definitive edition of Seamus Heaney’s poetry, featuring a number of previously unpublished poems.

Out 9 October 2025: https://linktr.ee/seamusheaney

Soren Kierkegaard:
"The modern State is secular through and through, and a Church married to it will end by losing sight of its own gospel."
...Ring any bells?

I am ubiquitous. 🙂

The Poetry Business is now on Bluesky
bsky.app/profile/poet...

A good writing week with two letters published - one in New Scientist, the other in The Times Literary Supplement.🙂

Events | Project Bonhoeffer EVENTS The legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer 80 years on a MEMORIAL EVENT HOSTED BY PROJECT BONHOEFFER, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH St Luke’s and St Matthew’s Lutheran church & lEEDS uNIVERSITY cHA

'The legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer 80 years on'
Wednesday 9th April 2025
Leeds University
www.projectbonhoeffer.org.uk/events/

Professor Simon Armitage - Professor of Poetry Lectures

From 2015-2019, the present Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, was Oxford Professor of Poetry. His lectures during that time are available here:
english.web.ox.ac.uk/professor-si...

If you are a published writer and have not joined the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS), then I seriously suggest that you should. www.alcs.co.uk

For fans of the American poet, Robert Lowell, this is a fascinating biography and assessment of his poetry through the lens of his bipolar disorder:

Well, this was a delightful find. Published in 2014, John Carey, Emeritus Professor of English at Oxford University, has provided a delightful memoir of his life in the midst of literature. Several more books have been purchased as a result!

Reports on LA fires speak of conspiracies, including the '15-minute city' theory - described as "an urban planning concept that aims to make most daily needs within walking or biking distance of any point in a city".
We used to call those 'villages' and 'market towns' before shopping malls took over

The French poet, Paul Valery (1871-1945), was nominated an astonishing 12 times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. This new translation of his work has the English translation alongside the original French version.

The Existential Crisis Iceberg YouTube video by Alex O'Connor

So many questions for a wet Sunday morning...
A lively, informative, and thought-provoking romp through layers of existential questions...
(including the fascinating idea that you cannot die from your own perspective) 🤔
youtu.be/BkR83fxKOFs?...

For all my ex-pat friends, a seasonal poem from my 2nd collection of poems, 'On Quarry Beach':

Thought for the day:
'Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. it lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.'
Audre Lorde (American writer and poet, 1934-92)

Kent & Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition, 2025 OPEN TO POEMS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD DEADLINE 31 JANUARY 2025 We are pleased to announce that our annual Open Poetry Competition is now open for entries. It will be judged this year by Kit Fan. Ki…

The Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition 2025 is now open:
kentandsussexpoetry.com/kent-sussex-...

Robert Lowell documentary YouTube video by Author Documentaries

This documentary reflects on the life and poetry of the great American poet, Robert Lowell, often with the poems read in the poet's own voice. If you don't already have a feel for Robert Lowell's work, you will by the end of this impactful film...
youtu.be/mvhr_7WnTu0?...

Phil Collins, Genesis Drum Duet (Wembley 1987) YouTube video by MusicAndLights

As a new documentary on the legendary Genesis drummer, Phil Collins, is about to appear, here is a reminder of the sheer power and, dare I suggest, shamanic mysticism of his performances...
youtu.be/VjkbGR4ppCY?...

Christopher Nolan is taking on the Odyssey — here’s why it will be the action epic to end them all Homer’s vast poem – all 24 books of it – is Western literature’s original hero’s journey. And only one director is brave enough to tackle it

One to pencil into the diary...
www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/chri...

Simon Armitage | Poet Laureate YouTube video by Department for Culture, Media & Sport

The current Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, on the importance of poetry...
youtu.be/xFcsS7RrWXs?...

Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death YouTube video by Twenty-First Century Fudge

First screened 5 years ago, this documentary is a powerful, informative, and sensitive overview of the life, work, relationships, and personality of the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes.
youtu.be/XbAGbjXPCP8?...