All the things I'm working on now

Hi everyone,

I'm delighted to have just received two CDs with recordings of the poems that we, Winchcombe poets, have recorded for Radio Winchcombe. The first CD consists of readings from our anthology which was brought out for the local festival, and the second is a recording of our last workshop, with readings of several poems from each of us, and a bit of discussion as well. (This will be broadcast next week, I think.) I've published a fair amount of poetry over the years but much of it was private, so I didn't publish it. I am now bringing out poetry I wrote 20 years ago!

I am using my poetry in the play that I am writing at present. It is about the life of Arctic explorer, Robert Peary and I hope it will be one of a trilogy of Polar plays. I have been reading for it (and the others) for years, but I am still in the early stages of the writing. I don't want to give too much away, but I can say that poetry plays a large role in it. I was very disappointed by Howard Brenton's 'Anne Boleyn' because it was like Shakespeare (a history play), but without any poetry. I feel that the time has come to bring drama and poetry back close together again, and this is what I hope to do. Slightly scary, but it's like me to set myself difficult tasks!

Some of you will know I have been through an awful lot in recent months. My sister was diagnosed with cancer at Easter, and, a few weeks later, my mother had a bad fall. I also had to deal with a situation where there were many misunderstandings, and the difficulty of communicating (in a formal setting) made me quite unhappy, as I was afraid I was causing pain to the other person. I do view all of life as a learning experience however, and am lucky that I can transmute my own experiences into something more beautiful. I hope that other people will think so too. :)

My play,'Investigation: Haunted House' is still doing well, and I have written to an agent to see if Mark and I can get representation for the science plays and novels, and - of course - my other novels and scripts. As I'm the kind of writer who tends to let things sit on the computer it would be a real help if she thought she could represent me! I also have help from Emma who is staying with me, and will be organising my talks, workshops and readings. She was so good when she came for work experience that I couldn't let her go.

That's it for now, folks. I have to get back to the Arctic...

Pippa xx