A Northern Legacy: Spotlight on Flambard Press, in memory of Peter Lewis

Posted on 9 September, 2024 by nspeccoll

Flambard Press was a small-scale, independent, publishing press focused on new and neglected writers. It was started by Margret and Peter Lewis in 1990 and ran until 2012, supported by Arts Council England funding. This press was not a household name; they published their 129 books in small releases and focused on mostly northern authors whose work was otherwise neglected and unrecognised. Peter and Margaret worked out of the Phillip Robinson Library before moving the press to their home near Hexham, making a great deal of difference to the northern arts scene using less than £30,000 worth of funding a year. The two worked tirelessly and the Flambard Press archive at Newcastle University shows that Peter Lewis organised the printing of their books personally, including those published by his wife Margaret. They were involved in every aspect of their books’ publication, from editing, to cover design, to marketing – each aspect personalised and considered to get the best from the resources they had.

Photograph of Margaret and Peter Lewis — The photo was published in The Journal and taken on 24 April 1991. The caption was ‘Partners in Crime’.

Despite the size and capacity of Flambard, they gained a great deal of recognition in their 22 years of operation. Their writers were nominated for the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Poetry Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Prize, among many others. The writers that Flambard worked with, though starting out unknown, frequently did not remain so. Many of the authors have become household names across the north of England and stretching out into the whole of the UK. Particularly notable is Neil Astley, now the influential editor/founder of Bloodaxe Books (founded 1978), whose patrons include Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy and Chancellor of Newcastle University Dr Imtiaz Dharker. Another notable author published by Flambard Press is Val McDermid, prolific Scottish crime writer and winner of the Crime Writer’s Association Diamond Dagger in 2010; published her second collection of short stories Stranded with Flambard Press in 2005. Also, Courttia Newland, a British writer of Jamaican and Barbadian heritage who has been awarded the Tayner Barbers Award for science fiction writing and the Roland Rees Bursary for playwriting. These three authors are only a small sample of the depth and talent of the authors who worked with Peter and Margaret; because of their small capacity Flambard had to be selective with the writers they worked with and whose talent they would put their considerable talent and effort into. This critical judgement paid off with the press receiving recognition and awards well beyond its size.

Flambard Press inspired a loyalty in their authors that those who read the acknowledgements sections of mass produced books rarely witness. Rather than lukewarm statements thanking a corporate entity and switching from publisher to publisher with little ceremony; Flambard Press was a family. It was run by a family and its authors were taken into that family, without scruple. Although Flambard provided a jumping off point for many incredibly successful authors, it is the importance of the press to the more unknown authors that is so visible in the special collections archives. Kelly Swain, author of Darwin’s Microscope, said about Flambard when it closed; “Flambard Press made me believe I could do this writing thing. That I should do it. And I love them for that, and I feel a fierce loyalty to the press” (Farewell, Flambard – Kelley Swain (wordpress.com)). Similarly, Martin Edwards, another crime author in the Flambard roster, in his tribute to Peter Lewis on the event of his death on his blog, said about his book Dancing for the Hangman that it “didn’t make any of us a fortune, but I’m still proud of it”. This seems to be Flambard’s unofficial ethos, they didn’t search for funding from private donors or work under a cooperate umbrella; Peter and Margaret worked for the love of literature and for the betterment of northern writing. The Flambard outfit was small and content to remain so if it allowed writers that would not otherwise see the light of day to be recognised.

This family-oriented ideology makes for a moving experience when looking at the Flambard Press archives. After searching through files on individual authors; skim reading magazines with favourable reviews; and acknowledgements of prizes the Flambard family had won; by sheer luck the final file I looked at was one containing administrative documents for the company. An innocuous start, expecting a thin file with employee lists and financial documents, I was shocked when a full to bursting file landed on my desk, containing what appeared to be reams of letters and emails. This file, clearly lovingly compiled, by photocopying handwritten notes; taking extracts from magazines and printing off emails; contains the legacy of Flambard Press. The press dissolved unexpectedly in 2012 after their Arts Council funding had been reallocated elsewhere, and this was the response. Letter after letter, not addressed to Flambard Press or to ‘the editor’ as so many are; but to Peter, Margaret and Will (Mackie, the managing editor at the time) expressing their sympathy, sorrow and offering any kind of help they could possibly give the people of the press, as well as the press itself. This file contained testimony of the hope and kindness Peter, Margret and their employees had given the authors they worked with, the eloquently written tributes are too numerous to cite here but here is a selection:

“I just wanted to say again how good it has been to work with you over the last twenty years. The fact that you had faith in that first book set me on track and your support has been vital all along”
– Cynthia Fuller (Instructions for the Desert, Background Music and more)

“I can’t believe it. I saw a post by Simon Thirsk on FB and thought, well they’ll never do that. But they have.”
– Courttia Newland (A Book of Blues)

“Please pass on my grateful thanks to Peter and Margaret. They took Fear of Thunder on when no one else wanted it, and hopefully it’s various success have repaid their faith in it.”
– Andrew Forster (Fear of Thunder, Territory)

“I have appreciated being a Flambard poet. I want to express my sincere thanks for your dedication. It felt the perfect place to be a poet. The books were produced to the highest standards and the covers were inspiring.”
– Jackie Litherland (The Apple Exchange, The Work of the Wind, The Absolute Bonus of Rain)

The closure of Flambard did not go unnoticed outside of those who were directly affected by it; Carol Ann Duffy (Poet Laureate at the time) mentioned Flambard by name in her poem ‘A Cut Back’. She wrote:

Three little presses went to market, Flambard, Arc and Salt;
had their throats cut ear to ear and now it’s hard to talk.
(Guardian, 2011)

A copy of this poem can be found in the Flambard archive; diligently highlighted; presumably by the person who compiled the file that is an eloquent lament to a northern icon.

The legacy of Flambard Press, and of Peter and Margaret Lewis, is contained in these archives, in the letters from well-wishers and, lastingly, in the books the Press created. Flambard did so much good with so little in the north of England, for writers that could not or did not want to publish using mainstream publishing houses. Their 129 titles will remain in circulation for many years, and the writers whose careers Flambard began, or made, will continue to create amazing fiction.

This blog post was written in memory of Peter Lewis (1937-2024) co-founder of Flambard Press.

Benjamin Zephaniah

Posted on 13 March, 2024 by nspeccoll

In honour of the life and works of Dr. Benjamin Zephaniah (1958-2023), March 2024’s Treasure of the Month is his work from the Bloodaxe Books Archive. Benjamin Zephaniah was a dub poet born in Handsworth in Birmingham who rose to become Britain’s third favourite poet, according to a BBC poll in 2009. He was known for his hard-hitting performance poetry about race, class and injustice in modern Britain as well as his portrayal of preacher ‘Jeremiah Jesus’ in Peaky Blinders.

Benjamin Zephaniah reading his poem Money in Newcastle City Centre in 1991

Zephaniah also famously rejected an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in 2003, his response was a decisive, honest commentary focused on his relationship with empire:

“Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word “empire”; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalized. It is because of this concept of empire that my British education led me to believe that the history of black people started with slavery and we were born slaves, and that we were born slaves, and should therefore be grateful that we were given freedom by our caring white masters. It is because of this idea of empire that black people like myself don’t even know our true names or our true historical culture. I am not one of those who are obsessed with their roots, and I’m certainly not suffering from a crisis of identity; my obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people. Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.”
Benjamin Zephaniah, Gaurdian (2003)

The self-proclaimed anarchist’s commitment to his views extended to work that was consistently radical. Zephaniah used the controversy he inspired to fuel his work and draw attention to injustice. Of the artifacts kept in the Bloodaxe Archive, one such document is the information sheet for his 1992 collection City Psalms. In this Zephaniah actively acknowledges the racist prejudices levelled on him by tabloids such as The Sun, which is quoted directly.

City Psalms Information Sheet, includes an image of Zephaniah at the top with 'BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH' across the image in capitals and then descriptive text underneith. — *City Psalms Information Sheet* (BXB/1/1ZEP/1/4, Bloodaxe Books Archive)

The archival material on Benjamin Zephaniah at Newcastle University contains proofs of Zephaniah’s collections: City Psalms; Propa Propaganda; Too Black, Too Strong and To Do Wid Me. These collections were published by Bloodaxe Books and as such the material held also includes internal documents from within the publishing house concerning edits and forewords. These artifacts give both an insight into Bloodaxe Books’ workings and attitude to a radical poet such as Zephaniah.

Zephaniah’s social commentary covers key political conflicts over his lifetime; he was involved in Nelson Mandela’s campaign against apartheid, commented on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the 1990 poll tax riots, among others. His work covers all formats, printed, spoken word and digital, allowing for an accessible form of poetry that does not adhere to the traditional British literary cannon. Zephaniah commented on the need for accessibility in his poem “Dis Poetry” which he performed at Live Theatre in Newcastle in 2009.

Benjamin Zephaniah reading Dis Poetry at Live Theatre in Newcastle in 2009.

One of the collections held in the Bloodaxe archives is Too Black, Too Strong, published in 2001. This collection was born of a residency at Tooks Barristers’ Chambers funded by The Poetry Society and as such contains poetry that comments on legal systems and notable cases that occurred during Zephaniah’s residency there. One such poem is called What Stephen Lawrence has taught us, a poem commissioned by Independent Television News for Channel 4 News which discusses the well-publicized murder of 18 year old Stephen Lawrence whilst he waited for a bus in April 1993. This attack initiated a public enquiry, resulting in the Macpherson report, which deemed the Metropolitan Police Service institutionally racist and incompetent. Zephaniah’s poem talks about the state of Great Britain after Stephen Lawrence’s murder and declares that institutional racism “is now an open secret”. Despite this damming conclusion the poem has a thread of hope running through it, Zephaniah states,

“The death of Stephen Lawrence / Has taught us to love each other” and the final stanza of the poem contains a plea to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Condon asking him to “Pop out of Teletubby land, / And visit reality”.

The vibrant life of Benjamin Zephaniah will leave an imprint on Britain’s art and literary scene for generations to come, his infectious passion for the work that mattered, for the future of the British people and for the potential they have, will, I hope, never be forgotten.

The artifacts surrounding Benjamin Zephaniah’s work are accessible via the Special Collections Reading Room at Newcastle University, and his spoken word poetry is available through Bloodaxe Books’ YouTube channel or Zephaniah’s own website.

Written by Charlotte Davison, PGR student at Newcastle University English Literature, Language and Linguistics.

Finding their Voices

Posted on 24 April, 2023 by nspeccoll

As part of the Special for Everyone project to address equality, diversity and inclusion in Special Collections & Archives, Finding their Voices is an exhibition celebrating the many diverse voices present within our collections.

Many of the voices within Special Collection & Archives have long been visible and heard, yet those from marginalised groups in society have often been obscured. Our Special for Everyone project is actively working to diversify the voices included in our collections and to illuminate the hidden or lesser-heard voices they contain. We are doing this by taking a fresh look at the sources and, where necessary, reading between the lines to uncover those which are harder to find.

Finding their Voices is a celebration of some of the people we have encountered through this work. It features people who found and made their own voices heard despite their often-marginalised position, and those whose voices have been more difficult to hear. We are amplifying them here to enable a new generation of researchers to discover them.

The exhibition contains items from across Special Collections & Archives. Below are some of the exhibition highlights:

Working-Class Mining Communities

The lives of people from working-class communities in the past can often be difficult to discern within the official record. However, closer examination and interrogation of sources can help to uncover their history and voices.

Thomas Hair (c.1810-1875) was a local artist whose illustrations depict the North East’s coal mining industry in the 19^th century. His work captures the everyday workings of the industry, with many of the illustrations focussing on collieries, machinery, and river trade. Hair’s work provides visual evidence of the coal mining landscape and reveals the industry’s impact on the built environment. These images can tell us much about the lived experience of miners in this period, giving a ‘voice’ to their lives and the hard-working conditions they faced.  

Black and white illustration of the mining industry — *Illustration of the mining industry,* by Thomas Hair (19^th century), Thomas Hair Archive, TH/1/9

David Bateman and Shtum: the stutter poems

Poet David Bateman had a severe stutter as a child and teenager. He had successful speech therapy in 1980, aged 23. Since then, he still has a slight stutter in ordinary life but performs his poetry widely and has won many poetry slams and competitions. He writes poems, stories, scripts and articles. His book Shtum is a frank and personal account of what it is to have a stutter, the process of seeking the right help, and of finding your voice.

The poems in Shtum were mostly written between 2009 and 2015, but some have their origins in work from as early as 1980. David Bateman had never really considered writing about his stutter until he was prompted to think about how it was woven into his work when asked to participate in a radio documentary about stuttering in 2009. The project led him to return to some previously unpublished work made up of incomplete poems, unrealised ideas and prose diary entries. He felt ready to rework these early pieces and develop many new poems. The result is Shtum: the stutter poems. 

The Pride Movement

The UK’s first Pride march took place in London on 1st July 1972 with around 2,000 participants. Over 50 years later, London Pride now sees over 1.5 million people marching together to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights. The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) was established in Lancashire in 1964. Special Collections & Archives holds the archive for CHE’s Tyneside branch, including documents which illuminate the story of the Pride movement since that first march over five decades ago.

Within the Tyneside CHE Archive, it is possible to look back at Pride marches from across the past five decades. The first Pride march in 1972 took place 5 years after the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was passed, which decriminalised sex between gay men over the age of 21 in England and Wales. However, at the time of the first Pride march, the LGBTQ+ community still faced much discrimination. For example, gay marriage was not legal, and gay and bisexual people were banned from joining the armed forces. As well as campaigning, CHE also provided a social and support network for gay men and lesbians, providing a space for members of the LGBTQ+ community to make their voices heard.

Black and white photograph of London Pride 1987. A group of people holding a large white banner with the words 'LESBIAN + GAY PRIDE '87' on it — *Photograph of London Pride* (1987), Tyneside Campaign for Homosexual Equality (Tyneside CHE) Archive, CHE/03/02/01

Female Friendships

The everyday lives and voices of women are often not well-documented. Through personal belongings such as books and correspondence, however, it is possible to gain glimpses into the ordinary day-to-day lives of women. We can see the importance of friendship amongst women, and the bonds and relationships they made through their social networks. In historical periods women found themselves in charge of running the household whilst their husbands were away at work. The exhibition highlights items which are testimony to the importance of companionship and mutual support between women and reflect how we can uncover their voices through what they left behind.

Jane Loraine’s recipe book from the 17^th century contains a recipe ‘good for conception’, one ‘to prevent miscaring [miscarrying]’ and one ‘to make teeth white’. These recipes highlight the shared experiences of women and their attempts to help one another, not only with culinary recipes but also with fertility and more general health concerns. Different handwriting styles and recipes are attributed to different women. This indicates that the manuscript had multiple female contributors. Recipes were also often passed between class boundaries, highlighting the communal and collaborative nature of domestic knowledge in the early modern period.   

Page from Jane Loraine's Recipe Book, containing handwritten recipes. — Page from *Jane Loraine’s Recipe Book* (1684-5), Miscellaneous Manuscripts, Misc. MSS. 5

Professional Women

The classic image of women from the past is one of confinement, lack of agency, and a life of drudgery, domestic boredom or excess. In reality, whilst this might have been true for some, there have always been women who defied the expectations of their gender and exploited their talents to support themselves financially. Many gained a degree of respect in their chosen field and enjoyed popular success. Finding their Voices showcase items written and illustrated by women with talents and expertise in areas as diverse as science, art, storytelling, philosophy and pedagogy. Through their writings and illustrations their voices have a lasting impact.

Elizabeth Blackwell (1707-1758) is one of the women highlighted within the Finding their Voices exhibition. She was the first woman known to have produced a book of botanical work in Britain. Despite having a wealthy background, she was forced to use her skill of botanical drawing to raise money to support herself and release her husband from debtor’s prison. Even more unusually, Elizabeth Blackwell undertook all stages of the illustrative process herself rather than employing specialist engravers and painters. She completed two volumes consisting of about 500 illustrations with accompanying commentary in under two years. The book was intended as a reference work for doctors who needed a thorough knowledge of medicinal plants. 

Illustration of a broad leaved Lavender from A Curious Herbal — Page from *A Curious Herbal*, by Elizabeth Blackwell (1737), Rare Books, RB 633.88 BLA

Kamau Brathwaite and the Caribbean Voice

Barbadian poet, literary critic and historian Kamau Brathwaite (1930–2020) is a significant figure in the Caribbean literary canon, and one of its major voices. His work is noted for its rich and complex examination of the African and indigenous roots of Caribbean culture. He sought to create a distinctively Caribbean form of poetry which would celebrate Caribbean voices and language.

Kamau Brathwaite was born in Bridgetown, Barbados. Originally named Edward Lawson Brathwaite, he received the name Kamau from the grandmother of the Kenyan writer and academic Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, when on a fellowship at the University of Nairobi in 1971.  

Kamau Brathwaite co-founded the Caribbean Artists Movement, a collaboration of artists which celebrated a new sense of shared Caribbean ‘nationhood’, in 1966. Caribbean identity and culture are central to Kamau Brathwaite’s academic writing as well as his poetry. Brathwaite felt that the traditional meter of the English iambic pentameter (where every line is composed of ten syllables and has five stresses) could not express the breadth and depth of that experience. He instead used African and Caribbean folk and jazz rhythms in his poetry. He combined that with the use of Caribbean dialect and patterns of speech to create a distinctively Caribbean form of poetry, which was written to be performed out loud and heard. 

These items can be found alongside many others within the Finding their Voices exhibition on Level 2 of the Philip Robinson Library from Monday 10^th April – June 2023.

Written by Daisy-Alys Vaughan, student working on the Special for Everyone project.

Di Great Insohreckshan by Linton Kwesi Johnson

Posted on 25 October, 2021 by nspeccoll

“Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon…”

So stated the renowned Jamaican dub poet, recording-artist and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson (b. 24 August 1952). Based in the United Kingdom since 1963, in 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series.

In the Bloodaxe Books Archive, Special Collections holds a set of proofs for Linton Kwesi Johnson’s 1991 poetry anthology Tings an Times which accompanied an album of the same name. Amongst the proofs resides this draft typescript of Johnson’s great dub poem Di Great Insohreckshan which he famously wrote as a response to the Brixton Uprising which took place 40 years ago this year, in April 1981. The poem first featured on his album Making History in 1983.

Typescript draft of *Di Great Insohreckshan* by Linton Kwesi Johnson prepared for his anthology *Tings an Times* published by Bloodaxe Books (Bloodaxe Books Archive, BXB-1-1-JOL-1-3-1&2)

Dub poetry, a term coined by Johnson himself, was a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, written to be spoken out loud against a backdrop of reggae music.

Watch Linton Kwesi Johnson performing Di Great Insohreckshan.

The Brixton Uprising, also referred to as the Brixton Riots, took place 10-12 April 1981. It was the first large-scale racial confrontation between black British youth and white British police. The rioting was sparked by decades of injustices experienced by black people in the UK.

Next month will see the fortieth anniversary of the publication of the Scarman Report, commissioned by the UK government in response to the Brixton Uprising. Amongst other conclusions, the Report found there to be unquestionable evidence of the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of ‘stop and search’ powers by the police against young black people and placed the Brixton Uprising into the context of the racial disadvantage faced by them.

Linton Kwesi Johnson’s poetry is deeply political in its nature, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an African-Caribbean in Britain. Written and spoken in Jamaican Creole English, Di Great Insohreckshan railed against the injustice and oppression which brought about the tensions leading to the Brixton Uprising, giving full vent to black people’s anger and highlighting the government’s political failure.

When first performed, Di Great Insohreckshan grabbed and demanded the attention of those who heard it, with its intense, urgent, streetwise and intellectual delivery. Forty years on the poem is held to stand alongside TV and radio archive as a primary source in its own right, helping future generations understand the cultural and political upheaval that led to the Brixton Uprising of 1981.

50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing – July 2019

Posted on 20 July, 2019 by nspeccoll

Two pages from Peter Bennet's notebook showing two different drafts of the poem 'Moons at Cleethorpes'.

Pages from Peter Bennet’s notebook containing draft poems of ‘Moons at Cleethorpes’ (Bennet (Peter) Archive, PB/1/5/2)

On the 20th July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to walk on the moon after the successful landing of spacecraft ‘Eagle’ on the surface of the moon a few hours earlier. The landing ended the ‘Space Race’ between the USSR and the USA, and was a breakthrough moment in space exploration.

To celebrate, this month’s treasure is part of poet Peter Bennet’s notebooks containing a draft of his poem ‘Moons at Cleethorpes’ from 1985. Whilst the moon landing of 1969 was a significant moment in the history of space exploration and the development of scientific understanding of outer space, the moon has long held a significant place in culture, particularly in works of art and literature such as Bennet’s poem.

Bennet initially studied Art and Design with ambitions to be a painter but turned to poetry when he began working as a teacher of redundant steelworkers in Consett. The connection to visual imagery can be seen in this poem through the language used to evoke the real moon and the pleasure park rides, and the sense of interplay between the natural dark and artificial lights of the park. The notebook provides a fascinating insight into the working processes behind Bennet’s poetry. It is possible to see where he has amended lines, scribbling over phrases, and rewritten over the poem in coloured pen to try out alternative words and phrases. Comparison with the published version of the poem can show which part of the poem Bennet chose to use as the ‘finished’ version, but these drafts can also demonstrate the development of ideas. In this case, the red annotations to the poem suggest Bennet was interested in how to convey a sense of light and movement as he tries out alternative phrases of ‘garish’ and ‘brashly lit-up’, ‘floats high’ and ‘soars back’.

You can hear more about Bennet’s life and work and his hopes for the future of his notebooks held here in Special Collections through our Collected Voices resource. More of his drafts and pages from the notebooks are also available to view online through the Collections Captured resource.

Contemporary Poetry Collections: Poets and their Archives

Posted on 11 July, 2019 by nspeccoll

To coincide with ‘Transformations: Newcastle Poetry Festival 2019‘, which ran from 1st-4th May 2019, Special Collections and Archives showcased Contemporary Poetry Collections: Poets and their Archives, using material from our recently acquired and catalogued contemporary poetry archives. Material from the archives of poets Sean O’Brien, Jack Mapanje, Selima Hill, Peter Bennet and Moniza Alvi were on display to provide an insight into the varied voices of contemporary poetry and literary archives held by Newcastle University Special Collections.

Poets from the exhibition are highlighted below;

Moniza Alvi

Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and came to England when she was a few months old. She grew up in Hertfordshire and studied at the Universities of York and London. After working for many years as a secondary school teacher, she is now a freelance writer and tutor.

Alvi’s poetical career was launched after winning the Poetry Business Prize in 1991, a prize she won jointly with fellow poet Peter Daniels. Her first independent collection, The Country at My Shoulder (1993), was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award. She has since published seven further collections of poetry with Oxford University Press and subsequently Bloodaxe Books. Alvi received a prestigious Cholmondeley Award in 2002.

The themes of Alvi’s work are often those of duality, division, identity and feminism.

An Unsafe Subject. Trauma is the central theme of ‘Europa’, Alvi’s 2008 collection, in particular the trauma of rape.

This is explored in Alvi’s re-imagining of the Greek myth of the rape of the beautiful Europa by Zeus (chief of gods).

Following the publication, Alvi was asked to write the foreword to Feminism, Literature and Rape Narratives. Here, Alvi considers how rape is still often considered a taboo subject and explores whether this is a result of rape being primarily considered a women’s issue.

Front cover of ‘Europa’. Bloodaxe Books Collection, 821.914 ALV

Poetry in Progress. Pages from Alvi’s notebook and draft typescript provide an insight into Alvi’s writing process of ‘At the Time of Partition’ (2013). This was Alvi’s first new poetry book since her T.S. Elliot Prize shortlisted collection ‘Europa’ (2008).

Pages from notebook containing notes, poetical sketches and drafts, poetical ideas and suggestions for the creative process. Alvi (Moniza) Alvi, ALV/5/1

Page from a manuscript draft of ‘At the Time of the Partition’ including comments. Alvi (Moniza) Archive, ALV/1/1/1/2

Peter Bennet

Peter Bennet was born in Staffordshire in 1942. He won a scholarship to King’s School Macclesfield before attending Manchester College of Art and Design where he studied art. He then went on to teach art in secondary schools.

Later, Bennet worked with around 1000 redundant steelworkers following the closure of Consett Steel Works. The job was to teach basic English, which evolved into exploring literature. This exploration and experience was to kick start Bennet’s writing career.

Bennet has published poetry collections with Bloodaxe Books and Flambard Press. He has received major awards from New Writing North and Arts Council England, and has won numerous poetry competitions.

Bennet’s themes include folklore, legend and transformation – inspired by living off-grid in the ‘Wilds of Wanney’, Northumberland, for thirty-three years. Below are some items from the Bennet (Peter) Archive.

Inspired by the Landscape.
Much of Bennet’s work was inspired by his surroundings. “Snow at Fourlawshill Top” references the Wanney Hills, which was Bennet’s home for many years.

Hareshaw Linn is one of Northumberland’s most spectacular waterfalls. It is also a Site of Scientific Interest for its rare ferns and lichens.

Notebook containing Drafts of Poems, 1985 Bennet (Peter) Archive, PB/1/5-3

Pages from notebook containing Drafts of Poems, including drafts of Hareshaw Linn, 1985. Bennet (Peter) Archive, PB/1/5/1

‘Sir John Fenwick’s Skull’ – Award Winning Poem.
Early versions of ‘Sir John Fenwick’s Skull’ poem give a snapshot of how it evolved into the winner of the Basil Bunting prize.

Sir John Fenwick’s skull and helmet, the inspiration for the poem, were returned to Hexham Abbey following his death at the Battle of Marston Moor (1644). The skull is currently on display at Hexham Old Gaol.

‘Sir John Fenwick’s Skull’ – Final version, 1987. Bennet (Peter) Archive, PB/6

Jack Mapanje

Jack Mapanje was born in Malawi in 1944. He worked as a secondary school teacher before moving to the University of Malawi, first as a lecturer and then as Head of English.

Mapanje began writing poetry out of despair at the political situation in his homeland, an authoritarian one-party state. His first poetry collection, Of Chameleons and Gods, was published in the UK in 1981, winning critical acclaim around the world. It was ‘withdrawn from circulation’ in Malawi by the governing dictatorship in 1985.

He was arrested in 1987 and detained without charge or trial. During his incarceration, Mapanje continued to compose poetry, but denied access to pen and paper, he crafted most of these poems in his head. On occasion, Mapanje was able to write poems on toilet roll, soap packets or similar scraps – which were then smuggled out of prison. After numerous international campaigns, Mapanje was finally released after 3 years, 7 months and 16 days with no explanation.

His next two volumes of work, The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison (1993) and Skipping without Ropes (1998), were largely composed during his time in prison.

Poems from Prison. The majority of poems in the Mapanje (Jack) Archive were composed during his incarceration. As pen and paper were forbidden, these poems were mainly created and crafted in Mapanje’s head, often coming back into his consciousness after his release. Letters and poems were often also written on toilet paper, such as the below letter from Jack Mapanje to David Kerr.

Letter written on toilet paper tissue by Jack Mapanje to David Kerr whilst a prisoner in Mikuyu Prison in Malawi

Extract from a letter written by Jack Mapanje to David Kerr whilst a prisoner in Mikuyu Prison in Malawi. Mapanje (Jack) Archive, MAP/6/3/43

During his time in prison, Mapanje wrote his second collection of poetry, ‘The Chattery Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison’ (1993), and much of his third, ‘Skipping without Rope’ (1998).

Page from a typescript draft of ‘The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison’, which includes drafts of two poems included in the collection. Mapanje (Jack) Archive, MAP/2/8/3

Selima Hill

Selima Hill was born into a family of painters in 1945 and grew up in rural England and Wales. She later attended boarding school before winning a scholarship to study Moral Sciences at Cambridge. After marrying and starting a family, Hill published her first collection of poetry, Saying Hello at the Station (1984).

She has won the Cholmondeley Award and the Arvon International Poetry Competition. Her collection Violet (1997) was shortlisted for three British poetry awards, and Bunny (2001) won her the Whitbread Poetry Award.

As well as writing poetry, Hill has worked on a variety of multimedia projects including collaborations with the Royal Ballet, Welsh National Opera, Science Museum and Imperial War Museum.

Hill has also taught creative writing in hospitals and prisons, and was Writer in Residence at the Royal Festival Hall.

Hill’s themes include mental health issues, sexual abuse and family conflicts, often written in a surrealist style.

The Hill Method (Hill (Selima) Archive, SH/8/4). This was a creative way Hill invented to write a poem – it’s definitely worth a try! Her notebooks, like many of the poets featured here in this post, give an insight into Hill’s creative process – often including notes, drawings, collages and personal reflections.

Page from a notebook containing poems, notes, drawings and personal reflections. Hill (Selima) Archive, SH/4/10

Pages from notebook containing notes relating to draft poems. Hill (Selima) Archive, SH/4/91

Sean O’Brien

Sean O’Brien was born in 1952 in London. He grew up in Hull and was educated at the University of Cambridge.

O’Brien is a poet, critic, anthologist, broadcaster and short fiction writer. He has also written for television and radio.

He has won numerous poetry awards including the Eric Gregory Award (1979), the Somerset Maugham Award (1984) and the Cholmondeley Award (1988). O’Brien is only one of two poets to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same collection of poems – The Drowned Book. (2007)

He was Writer in Residence at Newcastle Live Theatre between 2001 and 2003 (which he held jointly with the late novelist and poet, Julia Darling) and was Vice President of the Poetry Society. He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

O’Brien’s themes include social history, politics and class – written with a mix of detailed realism and dark surrealism.

The Frighteners was published in the aftermath of one of Britain’s most divisive events, the year-long miners’ strike of 1984-85. Not only was there a North–South divide, communities all over the country were torn apart. In this interview, O’Brien discusses his thoughts and experiences of the time and how it influenced The Frighteners.

Front cover of ‘The Frighteners’. Bloodaxe Books Collection, 821.914 OBR

Development of poems in ‘The Frighteners’. These hand written and annotated versions of the poem Cousin Coat, gives a small insight into O’Brien’s thought process. The words come and go, crossings out made and annotations drawn, highlighting how the poem evolved into the final published version for inclusion in ‘The Frighteners’.

Page from a draft of Cousin Coat, a poem by Sean O’Brien – a hand written manuscript draft of a poem for inclusion in Sean O’Brien’s poetry collection ‘The Frighteners’. O’Brien (Sean) Archive, OBR/1/1/2/4

The exhibition was planned, designed and curated by an MA Art Museum and Gallery Studies placement student.

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Find other Literary Archive collections available online on our Collections Guide.

Listen to oral histories with depositors behind our Special Collections and Archives via Collected Voices. These recordings give a privileged insight into creators, collectors and significant figures with close links to the personal and professional activities, borne out through these unique research resources.

Also, explore the Bloodaxe Books Archive and creative responses to it in a variety of innovative ways, online here.

Jack Mapanje – poet and prisoner of conscience – March 2019

Posted on 21 March, 2019 by nspeccoll

Extract from a letter written on toilet tissue paper by Jack Mapanje to David Kerr whilst a prisoner in Mikuyu Prison in Malawi

Extract from a letter written by Jack Mapanje to David Kerr whilst a prisoner in Mikuyu Prison in Malawi (Jack Mapanje Archive, MAP/6/3/43)

Within Special Collections and Archives we hold the papers of a number of contemporary poets. One of that number is Malawian poet Jack Mapanje. In 1987 he was imprisoned for 4 years for critical views of the Malawian government expressed in his first published collection of poems. Since then he has had several more works published alongside a career as an academic in Malawi and the UK. In the Mapanje (Jack) Archive we hold material relating to his poetic works, items relating to his academic career in both Malawi and the UK, and perhaps most interestingly, correspondence written during and after his time held as prisoner of conscience.

Jack Mapanje was born in 1944 in Malawi, where he was educated before he studied at universities in Malawi and the UK. He then went on to lecture in the Department of English at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. In 1983 he was awarded a PHD in linguistics after study at University College London, he then returned to work at the University of Malawi.

During this time Jack Mapanje witnessed at first hand the regime of Hastings Banda and began to write poetry, some of which reflected his despair at the political situation. His first collection, Of Chameleons and Gods, was published in the UK in 1981. In 1985 the Malawian government withdrew the book from circulation without reason, and in 1987 Mapanje was arrested and imprisoned without trial in Mikuyu Prison.

Whilst detained he wrote a series of letters to David Kerr, an English colleague and friend who also worked at the University of Malawi. Their content tells of the conditions inside the prison and Mapanje’s thoughts on the campaign to release him. The harshness of prison conditions meant that paper and letters had to be smuggled into and out of the prison. This included using clean toilet paper as a medium on which to write letters.

One letter written on toilet paper survives as part of our collection (MAP/6/3/43). This particular letter is dated the 10/1, in it he mentions prisoners released the previous day and discusses possible tactics and options open to his contacts fighting for his release.

Extract from a letter written by Jack Mapanje to David Kerr whilst a prisoner in Mikuyu Prison in Malawi (Jack Mapanje Archive, MAP/6/3/43)

Whilst he was in prison his first collection, Of Chameleons and Gods won the Rotterdam Poetry International Award and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. These helped to highlight his plight and political oppression in Malawi to an international audience. At the same time there was a campaign for his release coordinated by Amnesty International which involved several well-known writers and activists including Harold Pinter and Noam Chomsky.

He was eventually released in May 1991, after this he and his family moved to the UK. In the years since he has had a successful career as an academic with several universities and has carried on writing. The collection of poems he largely wrote whilst in Mikuyu Prison, ‘The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison’, was published in 1993. More recent books include The ‘Last of the Sweet Bannanas: new and selected poems’ and ‘The Beasts of Nalunga’. He has edited other works and his memoir, ‘And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night’ was published in 2011.

Front cover of ‘Beast of Nalunga’, showing the head of a crocodile with its mouth open

Front cover of ‘Beast of Nalunga’, published by Bloodaxe Books in 2007 (Bloodaxe Books Collection, Bloodaxe 821.94 MAP)

A catalogue of Jack Mapanje’s papers held at Newcastle University Library can be found here on our Archives Hub pages and a small selection of digitised images from the archive can be found on Collections Captured.

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge’s Handwritten Poetry Collection – December 2016

Posted on 6 January, 2017 by nspeccoll

Note written by Lucy Violet Holdsworth to accompany Mary Coleridge’s handwritten collection of poems, later to be published as ‘Fancy’s Following’. (Miscellaneous Manuscripts 56)

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge was born on 23 September 1861, and she grew up surrounded by literary and artistic talent. She was the great-grand-niece of Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and her family friends included Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Anthony Trollope, John Ruskin, and Robert Browning. During her lifetime, she became best known for her essays, reviews and her five published novels. These included ‘The King with Two Faces’ which she received the substantial sum of £900 for in 1897.

However, posthumously it is her poetry which has taken centre stage. Our first Treasure of the Month for 2017 is a fair copy of Mary Coleridge’s first poetry collection, ‘Fancy’s Following’, which was handwritten by the poet for her friend, Lucy Violet Holdsworth.

Page taken from Mary Coleridge’s handwritten collection of poems, later to be published as ‘Fancy’s Following’. (Miscellaneous Manuscripts. 56)

Page taken from Mary Coleridge’s handwritten collection of poems, later to be published as ‘Fancy’s Following’. (Miscellaneous Manuscripts. 56)

The copy was made before it was later issued privately by Daniel Press in 1896, and in fact, it was this small white book which led to the publication. Holdsworth’s cousin, Monica Bridges (nee. Waterhouse) was married to the Robert Seymour Bridges, Britain’s poet laureate from 1913 – 1930. Holdsworth planned for the book to be left out for Bridges to take notice and when he did, he asked to meet Mary to encourage her to publish her work. Coleridge agreed, but with the stipulation that it was published under the pseudonym ‘Anodos’ in order not to disgrace her family name by acknowledging she was the author. It wasn’t until four months after her death in 1907 that a book of two hundred and thirty-seven of her poems was finally published under her real name, and by that time, it proved so popular that it was reprinted four times in just six months.

The score for ‘The Blue Bird’, a poem by Mary Coleridge set to Music by Charles Villiers Stanford. (Stanford Collection, Op.119.3.)

‘A Blue Bird’, which appeared in ‘Fancy’s Following’, was one of eight of Mary Coleridge’s poems which was set to music by Charles Villiers Stanford. The score can be found in our Stanford (Charles Villiers) Collection, and you can listen to a performance of it below.

Olympic Games – August 2012

Posted on 27 August, 2012 by nspeccoll

Title page from 'Odes of Pindar' — Title page from *Odes of Pindar: with several other pieces in prose and verse*, translated from the Greek by Gilbert West, London, 1753 **(Bainbrigg Library/Appleby Grammar School Collection, Bai 1753 PIN)**

The ancient Greek Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC although their exact origins are obfuscated by myth and legend. Dedicated to the Greek gods, they were staged in Olympia, in north-western Greece. Olympia was a place of worship and politics and home to temples, shrines and a great statue of Zeus. The statue was one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, but it is thought to have been either destroyed or moved and then broken-up, by the Romans.

The Games were usually held every four years, or Olympiad, and all free men who could speak Greek were eligible to compete in the small number of events. Athletes usually competed nude; the Olympics was a festival celebrating the achievements of the human body. An ‘Olympic Truce’ ensured that athletes could travel from their countries to the Games in safety. Victorious athletes were honoured with wreaths of laurel leaves, hymns and feasts and their achievements recorded. The ancient Games continued for twelve centuries, until 394 AD, when they were suppressed for being pagan by Emperor Theodosius I, as part of his campaign to impose Christianity as a state religion.

This title page is taken from Odes of Pindar, written by the Theban poet in the 5th century BC. Pindar was one of the most renowned poets of his time and the Odes are the only pieces of his work that survive intact today. He composed the words and music of over forty odes that were performed in celebration of the winners of different events at the Olympics and other ancient Games. Pindar’s Odes are beautiful but complex, difficult to translate from ancient Greek, and often hard for 21st century readers to understand and appreciate.

Pindar compared the achievements of Olympic victors to those of the great Greek Gods – believing their superhuman sporting deeds to be almost divine. Pindar’s poems do not describe in any detail what actually happened at the Games; his poems are about victory and the acclaim associated with winning. Athletes who had been victorious at the Games often commissioned an ode from a poet, for a considerable sum of money. The clients were rich aristocrats who saw the songs as ways of announcing their victories to the whole Greek world and ensuring their achievements would be long-remembered. Unsurprisingly, rumours of rich families ‘buying’ victories at the Olympics were rife.

In the first Olympick Ode, which was dedicated to Hiero of Syracuse, who in the 73rd Olympiad was victorious in the Race of Single Horses, Pindar writes:

     ‘Then for happy Hiero weave
     Garlands of Aeolian Strains;
     Him these Honours to receive
     The Olympick Law ordains.

     No more worthy of her Lay
     Can the Muse a Mortal find;
     Greater in Imperial Sway,
     Richer in a virtuous Mind;
     Heav’n O King, with tender care
     Waits thy Wishes to fulfil.
     Then e’er long will I prepare,
     Plac’d on Chronium’s sunny Hill,
     Thee in sweeter Verse to praise,
     Following thy victorious Steeds;
     Is to prosper all thy Ways
     Still thy Guardian God proceeds.’

For the 2012 London Olympics, Dr. Armand D’Angour, a lecturer in Classics at Oxford University, has been invited to compose an ode by the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. An expert in the composition of ancient Greek verse, D’Angour also wrote an ode that was read during the closing ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

This is the third time that the modern Olympic Games have been held in London – the 4th games were held in 1908 and the 14th in 1948. The games had been cancelled in 1944 due to the Second World War. When they were finally held in 1948, they became known as the Austerity Games due to continued rationing and tight post-war budgets, in contrast to this year’s £2billion extravaganza.

Although the modern Games were inspired in part by the ancient Games, they also have their roots in the Wenlock Games, which are held annually in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Dr William Penny Brookes established the Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society in 1841 to provide an opportunity for local, working class people to acquire knowledge. He then created an Olympian Class in 1850 to encourage people to keep fit by training and competing in sporting competitions at the annual Wenlock Olympian Games. After meeting Pierre de Coubertin, a French educationalist who shared his belief that physical exercise could help prevent illness, he invited him to stay in Wenlock. Inspired by the Wenlock Games, Coubertin went on to set-up the International Olympic Committee in 1894, which organised the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. They have taken part almost every four years since.