Exciting news! Our book Offcumdens, a collection of 41 black and white photographs of Yorkshire by Bob Hamilton paired with my poems, was published by Fair Acre Press on 17th March 2022. Read more about our project here:
We had a splendid book launch at The Leeds Library on Thursday 17th March. James Nash made Bob and I feel at ease and Helen Mort Zoomed in to read some of her latest work as sadly she was unable to come in person. We had an appreciative audience of over 60 people who bought both the paperback and hardback editions of Offcumdens. Many thanks to all of you for your enthusiasm.
The exhibition of Bob’s photographs from Offcumdens paired with my poems was at the Western Gallery, Manor House Museum, Ilkley on Sat 26th -Sun 27th March 2022. We had a good audience for the poetry event hosted by James Nash (again) with readings by myself and the Wharfedale Poets. Thanks very much to all who came and particularly to James who has been so supportive and enthusiastic as well as a brilliant interviewer.
Other news
Rave review of Offcumdens in The Yorkshire Times on 21.4.22 by SteveWhitaker. Read it here
Yvette Huddleston from The Yorkshire Post wrote an article about how Offcumdens was first conceived. It was in the Culture section and published on Friday 18th March 2022. Read more here.
And Hello Yorkshire published a feature on Offcumdens on 22nd March. Read it here.
We were interviewed by the poet Lydia Kennaway about Offcumdens on East Leeds Chapel FM radio on the programme Love the Words on Tuesday 8th March. See: https://www.chapelfm.co.uk/?s=Love+The+Words
2021
My poems Dancing Girls and Eighteen Miles won 1st and 2nd prizes on the Saltaire Poetry Festival competition. I had won 3rd prize in 2019 in the same competition with Engagement, so I was very pleased and surprised to score a hat trick. All three poems are in Offcumdens.
Ilkley Walter Swan Poetry competition 2021: My poem The year of two winters won 3rd prize. See video of my reading and Ian Duhig’s comments here
Songwriting
2021: Opera North ran a wonderful free virtual songwriting course with Thanda Gumede and Dave Evans in February- March. We were put into small groups and over six weeks collaborated to produce a 3.5 minute song on the topic of Writing Home. We used Soundtrap software to record ourselves and harmonise. It was great fun. When I’ve discovered how to upload sound files I will put in a link.
2020: I collaborated with a composer to write a song for the Leeds Lieder Festival in April 2020. Mark Bowler has turned my haiku sequence Pentaplex into a song – see below.
We discovered we have both been inspired creatively by the wonderful workings of the gut. See Mark’s song: https://soundcloud.com/mbowlercomposer/nothing-but-a-tube-a-darwinist-lullaby
Final product of Pentaplex here:
Pleasing reviews of Heart Murmur.
See: https://londongrip.co.uk/2020/02/london-grip-poetry-review-emma-storr/
http://www.inksweatandtears.co.uk/pages//?s=heart+murmur
Raceme no.8 autumn/winter 2019: Shirley Wright reviewed Heart Murmur and two of the poems from the pamphlet appear in the magazine.
And in the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners May 2020: https://bjgp.org/content/bjgp/70/694/251.2.full.pdf
My poem Insomnia was Highly Commended in the York Poetry Prize 2020.
Emma Storr 