Pablo Neruda Talk with Graham Fawcett Thursday 5 October 6.30pm

‘Do go; these are very special occasions.’ Bridport Review

‘Outstanding’ – John T

‘Graham Fawcett is very good indeed. He has a marvellous knack
of opening up a poet’s life and instantly taking  you on a colourful voyage
through their life and work. Very illuminating indeed…’ James Crowden

Pablo Neruda

Talk with Readings by Graham Fawcett

Thursday 5 October 2017 6.30pm

Tickets: £10 or £25 with buffet dinner to follow

Please phone 01308 459511 to book now!

Graham Fawcett gives the extraordinary and inspiring story of Pablo Neruda’s life, performing his most memorable poems in Spanish and English. Followed by a delicious supper and lots more talk.

 

Pablo Neruda

‘The greatest poet of the 20^th century in any language’ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Thanks to the 1994 film Il Postino: The Postman, the clearest picture many of us have of Pablo Neruda’s life and work is confined to his period on Capri in 1952 with Mathilde Urrutia, who would share the last 28 years of his life.

Whether in enforced exile, as on Capri and visiting many of the world’s capitals, or as a diplomat in Burma, Ceylon, the Dutch East Indies, Mexico, France or Spain during the Civil War (his in memoriam poems for Lorca, a friend, stun eye and ear), Neruda travelled effortlessly; as a result, his poetry carries the authentic charge of his encounter with dramas of land and sea and the parallel unfolding of his and Chile’s history. The 2017 biopic Neruda gives a good insight into the poet’s life in that creative, political and personal turning-point year of 1948.

Neruda’s celebrated love poetry offers the glorious double intimacy of an open heart to the beloved and a confessional in friendship to the reader, and all the while Neruda’s political nerve, incisive and moderate, abundantly inspires fellow feeling beyond borders.

“THANK YOU so much for such a mesmerising evening last night in Taunton. My friend and I left buzzing with delight and enormously stimulated to read more of Pablo Neruda’s work.” (Jane Hole, at Neruda Night in Taunton)

“Lots of people who experienced it all have said that it was fabulous. Andrew McMillan in particular was fervent in his praise for your delivery and the content of the talk – he was very impressed indeed”. (Antony Dunn, Neruda Night lecture at the Bridlington Poetry Festival)

 “Splendid” (George Beckmann, at Neruda Night in London)

“You took a unique approach, sent me in directions I hadn’t expected, and left me wanting to discover more for myself”.    (Christine Murphy, after Neruda Night in Lewes)

GRAHAM FAWCETT has lectured or led workshops at literary festivals throughout Britain on reading and writing poetry. A highly entertaining lecturer, writer and educator, he has been a tutor for The Poetry School since 1997, devising and teaching new courses on poetry past and present from around the world. Previous to that he wrote and presented radio programmes about literature and music on BBC Radio 3 for many years.

Graham Fawcett’s talks explore leading poets, their lives, the political and cultural environment in which they wrote and, most of all, their work. The programme is two 45 minute halves with an interval followed by an informal and delicious buffet dinner served by Sladers Yard’s celebrated Licensed Café. The £15 buys a full main course from a choice of seafood, free-range meat or vegetarian dishes. A wonderful selection of wines, desserts and cheese are available à la carte.

Please phone 01308 459511 to book your tickets now.

A wonderful review of Graham Fawcett’s Coleridge Talk: John Pownall in Bridport Review.

A review of Graham Fawcett’s fascinating lecture on John Donne can be found here.

Review for Graham Fawcett’s talk on T.S. Eliot on 22 January 2015:

“We [the audience] were more than happy to stay the course, stunned and astonished in equal measure. Stunned by the breadth and depth of Fawcett’s criticism, astonished at our luck to be living miles from a university yet participating in what, to all intents and purposes, was a post-graduate lecture, presented with immaculate complexity by a master of ceremonies par-excellence.”

Elaine Beckett, Bridport Review