John Saddler seated on stage with Katharine Towers and Zaffar Kunial in smart dress.
John Saddler seated on stage with Katharine Towers and Zaffar Kunial in smart dress.

UWL and Open Ealing get poets talking

Intro

In a bid to bring live contemporary poetry to West London, John Saddler, who is a literary agent and a lecturer for The University of West London’s BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing, recently organised Poets Talking, jointly with Open Ealing Arts Centre.

Main body

The evening event on 11 January saw two critically acclaimed poets – Katharine Towers and Zaffar Kunial - perform their work and discuss what it is to be a poet, their inspirations and professional journeys with an audience of UWL students and Ealing locals. Zaffar recently featured on the shortlist of the TS Eliot Poetry Prize 2023, recognising him as one of the UK’s top poets. 

Usually, if you want to see poets of this quality, you'd have to go to somewhere like the South Bank, John explains, adding that this kind of experience is a great way to inspire creativity, particularly for students.  

During the evening, as well as reading from their latest book, both read poems from their early career and discussed the things that got them started,

I remember the power that this kind of event had for me as a student, and it was great to see our students getting so engrossed in the discussions.” 

John hopes that the event will become a regular fixture during 2023, and he believes that interest in poetry is higher than ever, with poems regularly being shared over social media.

There are more outlets than ever for poetry and more people writing it,

It is great for students to see that there are ways that you can make a living doing it, as poets like Zaffar and Katharine demonstrate.”

Course Leader for BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing, Professor Garin Dowd adds:

This event and the proposed series significantly enriches our students' experience of literature and will expand their horizons beyond the curriculum,”

The BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing (along with other combined honours variants) is run by the London School of Film, Media & Design, which supported free entry to the event for all UWL students.  

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