Poetry Reading by George Szirtes and Karl O'Hanlon

Join us in the Workshop Theatre on January 18 at 18.30 for a poetry reading by George Szirtes and Karl O'Hanlon. George Szirtes is an internationally acclaimed poet and translator and the winner of numerous literary prizes, including the T. S. Eliot Prize. Karl O'Hanlon's pamphlet And Now They Range was published by Guillemot in 2016. His work has appeared in a variety of magazines and he is based in Maynooth, Ireland.

All welcome admission free. The event will last around an hour.

Against the Grain: the Martin Bell Archive

Earlier in the day - from 2pm - 4pm - there is an event in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library entitled 'Against the Grain' which will look at the archive of poet Martin Bell who lived in Leeds in the 1960s and 1970s. George Szirtes and Karl O'Hanlon will give presentations at this event.

The archive at Leeds is the single largest collection of Bell’s manuscripts and correspondence.   Manuscripts offer unprecedented insight into Bell’s later years, and the wealth of correspondence charts the trajectory of his life in Leeds. Throughout the collection, the disorder of Bell’s life is evident, as is the tragedy of his struggle with alcoholism.  Amidst this chaos, though, the intricacies and sharpness of his thinking, and the insight of his poetry, are instantly identifiable. Files also include correspondence with luminaries such as Philip Larkin, Peter Porter, Peter Redgrove, Philip Hobsbaum and George Szirtes.

The collection was bequeathed to Special Collections in 2019, following the death of Christine McCausland, Bell’s former partner. McCausland was a tireless champion of his work, and was instrumental in the posthumous publication of his translations of A la Mystérieuse / Les Ténèbres (The Mysterious Woman and The Darknesses) by the French poet, Robert Desnos in 2018. She also provided assistance to Peter Porter for Complete Poems (edited by Porter and published by Bloodaxe Books) in 1988. Her bequest included a substantial group of letters and literary manuscripts written by Bell, and presumably bequeathed to her following his death in 1978.

The event will give attendees an opportunity to explore the collection itself in more detail, and hear from people who knew Bell, and those engaged in research with his work.

PLEASE sign up to this event, please email Hilary at LAHRI - LAHRI@leeds.ac.uk