Dithering Chaps
Delighted that my fellow Fire River Poet Nicole Durman has had her first chapbook Ghosts of Nightshifts Past accepted by Dithering Chaps. You can read about it here. I’ve admired Nicole’s work for its energy and untold tales, so it’s great to see it get the attention it deserves.
Reading at the Creation Theatre, Oxford 14th October
A lovely opportunity to read at the Creation Theatre with Alan Buckley, NJ Hynes and Carl Tomlinson before popping next door to one of those pubs you never want to leave. Thanks to Helen Eastman for the invitation.
The Crank and Poetry Worth Hearing
A couple of fatherhood poems ‘Early Childhood Studies’ and ‘Fontanel’ appear alongside poems by Oz Hardwick and Kimberley White in issue 11 of Humphrey Astley’s The Crank and four poems on the theme of ‘after’ are up at Kathleen McPhilemy’s Poetry Worth Hearing including a long and interesting interview with Cahal Dallat – text here and audio here.
A Couple of Readings
Stoked to be reading with Harry Man, Tiffany Tondut and Tom Weir at the Torriano launch of Harry’s stellar collection Popular Song.
And then in Bristol for the launch of Carrie Etter’s exquisite Grief’s Alphabet.
Lighthouse
‘Decline’ appears in the word and image issue of Lighthouse and details a loss of vision. It’s a packed, well-edited issue and I was especially pleased to be included in a journal which references Tom Phillips, taking me back to my heady Bellenden Road days drinking in the Pelican with my lurcher Jess.
Pennine Platform
And my poem ‘Performance’ appears in issue 95 of Pennine Platform. It reads like a continuation of The Glassblower’s House, perhaps I still have a few poems to write in that vein. It’s a terrific issue, but I think my favourites are Konstandinos Mahoney’s ‘Alexi’ and Lydia Harris’s ’I call my ox.’
The Glassblower’s House featured in Broken Sleep’s Books of 2023
Delighted to receive this generous, sympathetic review from Kirsten Norrie (MacGillivray)
Reading at Heron Books Bristol, 13th January 2023
Thanks to Lizzie for a warm welcome for Josephine Corcoran, Isy Mead and myself in Clifton, Bristol.
The Glassblower’s House Review by Ashley Lister in Writing News
Uncut Poets, Exeter Phoenix, 26th September
A lovely reading with Isabella Mead and Josephine Corcoran and fantastic open mic-ers including Mark Totterdell. Thanks to Chrissy Banks and Alasdair Patterson for the invitation and warm welcome!
Fire River Poets online reading, 7th September
A real privilege to be invited to read for Taunton’s very own Fire River Poets of whom I have been a member since moving to Somerset about ten years ago. How lovely to be able to stretch out like this. As well as some Glassblower’s House poems, I read some work from its shadow-volume Phantoms and a new poem called ‘Longing Marks.’ Thanks to all who attended and for Graeme Ryan for chairing.
Poetry Salzburg, August 2023
Three recent poems appear in issue 40 of Poetry Salzburg – ‘Far from the climate emergency’, ‘Phantoms’ and ‘Lovely Polykaste.’ The poems are taken from Phantoms, a pamphlet composed one poem a day after reading a different chapter of the Odyssey.
The Alchemy Spoon, July 2023
‘My houseparent is weeping on a rock’ appears in Alchemy Spoon issue 10. It was great to be part of the online launch which you can watch here (my poem is about 27 minutes in) or you can buy a copy of the issue, curated by Tamsin Hopkins, here. It includes lots of great writing including poems by Elaine Ewart and Matthew Caley.
Finished Creatures
Really happy to have two poems, ‘Migration’ and ‘Nafplion’ in Issue Eight of Finished Creatures. Buy a copy here.
A personal history of home anthology, January 2023
Delighted to have two of my Songs for Ibba poems, set in Ibba Girls School in Western Equatoria State in South Sudan, ‘Aubade’ and ‘Departures’ appear in Dr Jennifer Wong’s A personal history of home anthology.
You can read it by clicking here.
Live Canon’s pamphlet competition, December 2022
Over the moon that my pamphlet The Glassblower’s House is a winner of Live Canon’s pamphlet competition and will be published in 2023. Thank you to Dr Helen Eastman and the Live Canon stable.
Some recent publications, May 2022
- ‘Rich and Poor in the Underworld‘ in Acumen (an outtake from my Lost and Found sequence set in Bristol temple Meads Lost Property Office and the Greek Underworld)
- ‘Witness’ in The Honest Ulsterman (from Lost and Found)
- ‘Episode’ in Finished Creatures
- ‘Sara’ and ‘Corsair’ in issue 6 of The Crank
- ‘Clark Kent revisits the Family Farm’ in Orbis.
Thanks to all the editors for selecting my work.
Fly on the Wall, July 2020
My pamphlet about a girls school in South Sudan Songs for Ibba was shortlisted for Fly on the Wall. Update: no dice 
Some recent publications, April 2020
‘Early Days’ in Finished Creatures.
‘Divination’ and ‘Mute’ and, separately, ‘Four Weeks’ and ‘From a Former Member of Bomber Command’ in The Crank.
‘A Vision’ and ‘From One Lane of A Portuguese Swimming Pool’ in issue 231 of Stand.
‘Maridi’ was a winner of the 2020 Guernsey competition (but sadly not driven on a bus around the island).
Some recent publications, January 2020
‘Centres of Gravity’ and ‘Blind Spot’ in Seisma; ‘A Confidence’ and ‘Vertigo’ in Finished Creatures; ‘Correcting a Portuguese Menu in Honest Ulsterman.’
Cafe Writers Competition, November 2019
‘A Preservation Spell’ has been commended in the Cafe Writers competition: https://www.cafewriters.co.uk/home/poetry-competition/2019-winners/
Charroux Memoir Prize, October 2019
I’m delighted to have won the Charroux Memoir prize for ‘Crossing the Owl’s Bridge.’
William Soutar Prize, May 2019
I’m delighted to have won the William Soutar Prize, with the prize of a free writing course at Moniac Mhor. Many thanks to judge Samuel Tongue for selecting my poem ‘Landscape.’ You can watch me introduce it here (not my best day!).
Overton Poetry Prize, March 2019
My pamphlet Notes towards a Greek menagerie was shortlisted for the Overton Poetry Prize 2019. I was particularly pleased by judge Carol Rowntree-Jones’s comment, ‘These poems make me want to write.’
Salade, March 2019
My poem ‘Approach’ appears in the beautifully-produced Salade produced by Vittoria Cavazzoni & Déborah Gaugerenques.
Royal Society of Literature Writing Matters Award 2018
I was delighted to receive a Literature Matters prize for my Lost and Found project, which uses a residency at Bristol Temple Meads Lost Property Office as the basis of an investigation into what makes us human.
The sequence of poems links the Lost Property Office with the Greek Underworld. It was launched at a reading for the Exeter Classics Association before an audience including Dr Sharon Marshall and Professor Daniel Ogden in May 2019.
In 2021, I also gave a reading for Oxford University’s Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama Series of readings by contemporary poets engaging with the classics alongside poets Vasiliki Albedo, Kym Deyn, and Mehmet Izbudak:
Paper Swans Pamphlet Competition, 23rd July 2018
My pamphlet Sister-Wives was long-listed for the the Paper Swans prize 2018. It’s great to be on such a strong list.
The Writers’ Cafe, 19th July 2018
I have four poems up at the Portraits issue of the Writers’ Cafe. Many thanks to Marie Lightman. You can read them here
Research Stipend, 20th June
I have been awarded a stipend by Exeter University to visit their Charles Causley archive, held at the Old Library. I will be exploring Causley’s correspondence with writers located in the South West, as well as his drafting process.
Exmoor Society Poetry Competition, 19th June 2018
I was highly commended in the Exmoor Poetry Competition 2018 for my poem ‘An Imposition.’ Congratulations too to fellow Fire River Poet Graeme Ryan, whose poem ‘May 17th’ was also highly commended.
Reading at Cyprus Well, 1st June 2018
In March, I had the pleasure of spending five nights at the home of Charles Causley in Launceston, Cornwall as part of a research project into his links with John Keats. The first poem in Causley’s Collected Poems is titled ‘Keats at Teignmouth’ and 2018 is the 200th anniversary of Keats’s visit to the seaside resort to support his brother Tom, who was dying of TB.
I will be giving a talk as part of the Charles Causley Festival reflecting on the link between the two poets, as well as talking about Causley’s work for children, which I have used in my workshops with children for many years, and giving an account of my own experience at the house.
It was a wonderful experience, like slipping into another man’s shoes, walking his rounds, taking in his views.
The Keats-Shelley Prize 2017
My poem ‘Supporting Actor’ has been shortlisted for the Keats-Shelley Prize 2017.
The Bridport Prize 2017
My poem ‘The Lookout’ has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2017.
Archived news
April 2017 Poet in the Garden, Ashbourne Festival
September 2015 ‘Leaping onto a Lark’s Back – the Work of Ted Hughes and R. J. Lloyd’ (paper)
September 2015 Dreams as Deep as England, The Ted Hughes conference, Sheffield University
March 2015 ‘Working off Radar – Glyn Maxwell’
March 2015 New Generation to Next Generation conference, Oxford Brookes University
September 2014 Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
May 2014 Poets and Players – John Rylands Library, Manchester
(with Fiona Sampson, Nabila Jameel; music by Arian Sadr)
June 2014 Made in Greenwich gallery with Patrick Early and Rosemary Johnston
June 2014 Lit Live! Peckham Pelican
Goldsmiths Creative Writing students, alumni and staff, including Richard Scott, May-Lan Tan, Rachel Long, and special guests: poet Martha Sprackland, and spoken word artists Inua Ellams and Jacob Sam La Rose
1st August 2014 John Hewitt Festival Market Place Theatre Armagh, with Vona Groarke
A terrific few days at the John Hewitt festival in Armagh, meeting some lovely people including Frances Leviston, Paul Batchelor, Miriam Gamble, Vona Groarke and the more familiar faces of Paul Maddern, Damian Smyth and Anne-Marie Fyfe who so kindly invited me in the first place.
2013
15th January Family Tales, the Ivy House 40 Stuart Road, Greenwich
24th January Speaky Spokey, Brighton
23rd January Bath Spa University, workshop and reading
29th November Boxing the Compass London launch, Keats Memorial library with Beatrice Garland
2nd November Boxing the Compass launch + writing workshop, Derwent Poetry Festival, Matlock Bath
21st October New and Established Showcase, The Troubadour; Fiona Moore, Hannah Lowe, Angela France, Robert Peake, Hilda Sheehan, Alison Brackenbury, Kate White
October ‘Liberty and Fidelity in Logue’s War Music’, BAKEA History and Literature Symposium, Gaziantep, Turkey
13th December Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
A candlelight reading at the Wheatsheaf, featuring an impressive line-up of poets from near and far, including Matt Bryden, Kimberly Campanello, Vahni Capildeo, Harry Man, Mohan Rana, Tiffany Anne Tondut and Jennifer Wong. The reading was hosted by Gale Burns.
2012
June Goldsmiths peer seminar – ‘Why Be a Translator?’
April Goldsmiths peer seminar – ‘On First Looking into Logue’s Homer’
Further back in the recesses of time
Amber Ablett’s 2013 Song Sheets project
P13
A short film shot by Tebello Rose of seven poems based loosely on the P13 bus route between New Cross and Streatham [NOTE not sure what happened to this, it used to be on Youtube]
- Bystander
- Peckham Post Office
- The Ballad of Goose Green
- The Westbury Horse
- Classroom
- Goners
- Walking Up Vestry Street, After Midnight
List of online poetry publications
(many now defunct)
Poems:
- ‘After Daphnis and Chloe’ and ‘I Lost My Igloo’ at Enchanting Verses
- ‘Testament,’ ‘Unlooked for, the deer’ at The Garo
- ‘Keeping the Birds in the Air’ in Visual Verse
- ‘Breakfast,’ ‘He whistles,’ ‘Nights,’ ‘Duties,’ ‘Clientele,’ ‘School Party,’ ‘George’ at Peony Moon
- ‘Should The People But Come Above Ground,’ ‘If People Think,’ ‘The Night Sky,’ ‘’Over There,’ ‘Handicap’ at Peony Moon
- ‘Bazaar,’ ‘Raciborz Poland,’ ‘Brest Litovsk’ at Shadowtrain
- ‘Clothes’ and ‘Three Poems for Jack Kerouac’ in The Lake
- ‘Fixed Stars’, ‘A Ritual’ and ‘I have split mind again’ in CALM
- ‘Ab’ – Magma
- ‘Sonnet,’ ‘The Furniture Game’ – Goldfish
- ‘Rabbits,’ ‘The Proposition,’ ‘One Pane’ – Goldfish
- ‘The Smile,’ ‘Summer School,’ ‘Pulling Together’ – Shadowtrain
- ‘All Talk,’ ‘Nine Weeks,’ ‘Portents,’ ‘He can talk his way through life’ – Great Works
- ‘No distance,’ ‘The Reading,’ ‘Triptych’– nth position
Prose:
- ‘Correspondences’ in Versopolis
- ‘Fat Charlie the Archangel Sloped into the Room’ in CALM
- ‘Logue’s Homer in Enchanting Verses
- Various thoughts on writing for Arvon Teachers as Writers Project
- Reflections on staging Reports from the Judenplatz
- One Pane (essay) – Open Notebooks
- Interviews for Fire River Poets
Matt Bryden Poetry 
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