Andrew Forster

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Readings
GCSE: For students and teachers
Books
Literature Development
Poem of the Month
News
Contact

Andrew Forster is a poet and literature development worker. Originally from South Yorkshire he lived in Scotland for 20 years before moving to Cumbria in 2008. He worked in social care for 14 years, latterly managing housing projects for adults with learning disabilities,before making literature the focus of his career from 1998.

His poems have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies since 1993, including The Rialto, Acumen, Obsessed with Pipework, Cencrastus, Lines Review, Envoi and Poetry Nottingham, among others. Essays and reviews of poetry have appeared in The Dark Horse, Fife Lines and Lines Review, Other Poetry and The North. He was awarded Scottish Arts Council writer's bursaries in 1998 and 2002. Dress Rehearsals, a sequence of poems based on the life of Lytton Strachey, was published as a pamphlet by Flarestack in 2000. In 2003 the poem Radnoti's Notebook was commended in the Bridport Prize. In 2008 he completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, passing with distinction and winning the Michael Schmidt Prize for the Outstanding Portfolio.

His first full-length collection, Fear of Thunder was published by Flambard Press in October 2007. This was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2008, and two poems from it Horse Whisperer and Brothers, are included in the new AQA GCSE syllabus. A second collection Territory, focusing on place and our relationship with it, and based mainly in the remote village of Leadhills in South West Scotland, was published in 2010. Later in 2010, Digging, a collaboration with the artist and printmaker Hugh Bryden, was published by Roncadora Press. It consists of ten new poems with accompanying drawings by Hugh Bryden.

Contact Andrew Forster andrewforster@phonecoop.coop

Readings

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Andrew Forster is a regular reader of his own work, and has read for a number of groups and festivals, including Stanza, Ledbury, Liverpool Chapter and Verse, Manchester Literature Festival and Ware Poets. A complete reading, from Poets and Players at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, is available here.

Forthcoming readings

Wednesday 29th Feb 2012
Poetry Association of Scotland 7.30pm
Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh
with Ryan Van Winkle
£7.00 (£5.00 concession)
Further information

Saturday 3rd March 2012
The Green Tea House, Moniave
Roncadora Reading
with Rab Wilson, Jean Atkin and Hugh McMillan
presented by Hugh Bryden
Further details tbc

Thursday 23rd March 2012
Poetry Cafe
The Bluecoat, Liverpool
Further details tbc

Thursday 12th April 2012
Albert Poets, Huddersfield
Further details tbc

Andrew Forster is available for readings and talks/discussion events. To book him for an event contact andrewforster@phonecoop.coop

Recent readings

Friday 3rd Feb 2012
Poetry Live
Leeds Town Hall 10.30am -4.00pm
with Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Gillian Clarke, John Agard and Imtiaz Dharker

Saturday 4th Feb 2012
National Libraries Day: Reading and conversation
Kirkham Library 1.15pm - 2.30pm
Refreshments included.
Free entrance. Tickets from Kirkham Library: 01772 684479
Station Road, Kirkham, PR4 2HD

GCSE: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

2012-01-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

The poems 'Brothers' and 'Horse Whisperer' are both featured in the AQA GCSE anthology 'The Moon on the Tides'. Here are the poems, followed by answers to questions that GCSE students have asked.

HORSE WHISPERER

They shouted for me
when their horses snorted, when restless
hooves traced circles in the earth
and shimmering muscles refused the plough.
My secret was a spongy tissue, pulled bloody
from the mouth of a just-born foal,
scented with rosemary, cinnamon,
a charm to draw the tender giants
to my hands.

They shouted for me
when their horses reared at burning straw
and eyes revolved in stately heads.
I would pull a frog’s wishbone,
tainted by meat, from a pouch,
a new fear to fight the fear of fire,
so I could lead the horses,
like helpless children, to safety.

I swore I would protect
this legacy of whispers
but the tractor came over the fields
like a warning. I was the life-blood
no longer. From pulpits
I was scorned as demon and witch.
Pitchforks drove me from villages and farms.

My gifts were the tools of revenge.
A foul hex above a stable door
so a trusted stallion could be ridden
no more. Then I joined the stampede,
with others of my kind,
to countries far from our trade.

Still I miss them. Shire, Clydesdale, Suffolk.
The searing breath, glistening veins,
steady tread and the pride,
most of all the pride.

BROTHERS

Saddled with you for the afternoon, me and Paul
ambled across the threadbare field to the bus-stop,
talking over Sheffield Wednesday’s chances in the cup
while you skipped beside us in your ridiculous tank-top,
spouting six-year-old views on Rotherham United.

Suddenly you froze, said you hadn’t any bus fare.
I sighed, said you should go and ask Mum
and while you windmilled home I looked at Paul.
His smile, like mine, said I was nine and he was ten
and we must stroll the town, doing what grown-ups do.

As a bus crested the hill we chased Olympic Gold.
Looking back I saw you spring towards the gate,
your hand holding out what must have been a coin.
I ran on, unable to close the distance I’d set in motion.

both from Fear of Thunder Flambard 2007

Where did you get the idea for the poem ‘Horse Whisperer’?
While I was waiting for a friend one evening, I started to leaf through a book on ‘Strange Phenomena’ which was lying on the table. The book had a very brief history of ‘horse whispering’. I was fascinated by the techniques the horse whisperer used for controlling horses, but also by the way society’s attitude towards them changed over the years. When our economy was dependent on horses, the horse whisperers were revered, and as the tractor became more widely used they became demonised. At the time, I was experimenting with poems in different voices, and it seemed like an interesting challenge to take on the voice of a horse whisperer. As the poem developed, it became clear that the character in the poem was speaking for all horse whisperers.

Why is the poem written in irregular lines and stanzas?
The poems tries to capture the various stages in the history of horse whisperers, and in to do this it uses a range of tones, reflected in the rhythm, and the shape of the stanzas. The first two stanzas, where the horse whisperer is talking about his gifts, are intended to be almost chant-like, with their repetition. His anger at their skills being rejected is shown by the speeding up of the poem, with shorter lines and heavier internal rhymes, and the poem slows again for the final lines, which are more of an elegy, where he is thinking of the special bond he had with horses, and missing their companionship.

Do you have much experience of horses?
I don’t have a huge amount of experience with them. I have ridden in the past but not for many years. I am fascinated by them, they are such graceful animals.

I write about animals a lot. One of the things I am interested in is exploring the reactions we have to animals that natural history can’t explain. We may know all about an animal’s feeding and breeding patterns, we may be able to understand its movements scientifically, but as humans we have reactions to them that can’t be explained by that knowledge. I think that’s one of the things that poetry does, tries to answer questions in ways that can’t be explained by other means.

Why did you write the poem ‘Brothers’?
The poem ‘Brothers’ is one of a number of poems based on childhood memories that appear in my first book ‘Fear of Thunder’ (Flambard 2007). I had never really written about childhood but I suddenly found myself remembering incidents very vividly. I started jotting them in my notebook and the more I wrote the more I seemed to remember. The story behind Brothers was an incident where I had behaved very cruelly to my younger brother. My brother does make it into a few other poems in the book where I treat him rather better! There’s a poem called ‘At the Circus With My Brother’ about his early love of animals, and a poem about him as an adult called ‘Critical’, written following a motorcycle accident he was involved in,
The challenge, when writing the poems, was to explore the memory in such a way that the poem didn’t just recount the story. Any good poem should work on a number of different levels. With ‘Brothers’, although the poem uses some very immediate language, to take the reader into the experience, it is set in the past tense. It becomes clear as the poem goes on that this is an adult looking back at childhood experiences, not a child speaking. The implication of the last line, is that this incident has affected the relationship between the two boys into adulthood. There is a whole other story hinted at in this last line.

‘Brothers’ uses long lines. Why did you choose this form?
‘Brothers’ is telling a story from childhood, and the tone and rhythm of the poem is intended to reflect this. The longer line, and the rhythms of ordinary speech, give the poem a more conversational feel. The narrator might be chatting to his younger brother in the pub. As the poem goes on the rhythm becomes more formal, as the implications of the narrator’s actions become clear to him, and by the end he could be talking to himself.

Can you make a living from writing poetry?
It’s very difficult to make a living from poetry. Some poets make a living from activities associated with their poetry, such as teaching or giving readings, but the writing itself doesn’t pay that much. I’m very lucky. I’m a professional Literature Officer, currently working with the Wordsworth Trust, in Grasmere in the Lake District. I organise literature events and festivals and look at ways to support writers. This allows me to make a living in the literary world. It does mean I have to balance a full-time job with writing poetry and associated activities, such as readings, but on the whole I’m very happy with my situation.

Which poets have influenced you?
Poets influence me in different ways. A single poem might set off a chain of thought which makes me want to respond with a poem of my own. Other poets have something in their whole approach to poetry that has influenced me in mine. I regularly return to poets like Ted Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, Simon Armitage and, increasingly, Seamus Heaney, and think that their influence is visible in my poems. I love the excitement of discovering new poets, and I’m always finding new work I want to recommend to people.

If there's anything you would like to see covered in this section, contact andrewforster@phonecoop.coop

Literature Development

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Andrew Forster taught creative writing and literature for a number of organisations, including WEA Scotland, Edinburgh University Centre for Continuing Education and Community Education Departments throughout Scotland. He developed a number of community writing projects, including 'Midlothian Faces, Voices, Lives', a creative writing project based on oral history testimonies, and was Writer in Residence at Summerlee Industrial Heritage Museum in Coatbridge, editing the anthology Imagining Industry. He was a founder memberof the performance group The Portobello Poets, organising readings in the Portobello and East Lothian areas of Scotland.
In 2003 he became Literature Development Officer for Dumfries & Galloway, supporting individual writers and writing/community groups across the region. He developed an extensive range of initiatives over the next five years including:

The Wigtown Poetry Competition

Annual D&G Library Service Readers Days

Poetry Doubles, bringing poets of international staure to Dumfries & Galloway and providing platforms, with support and mentoring, for local poets

Poetry in the Woods, culminating in a Poetry Trail in Mabie Forest

Writers' exchanges

Scotland's first 'virtual' writers residency

The Scottish Poetry Library collection in Dumfries & Galloway.

In 2005 he became a board member of the National Association for Literature Development. He took a lead role in the first Scottish Literature Development Conference, in 2005, and was instrumental in developnig NALD's activities in Scotland.
In 2008 he moved to Cumbria to become Literature Officer at the Wordsworth Trust.
He is developing the Wordsworth Trust as the Poetry Centre for Cumbria. Initiatives include:

The internationally acclaimed summer poetry readings

The unique Poet's Residency

A series of intititves to support writers at all abiltiies, including workshops with renowned tutors, a mentoring scheme and Open Stage nights

The biennial Dorothy Wordsworth Festival of Women's Poetry

Support for readers to enjoy poetry, including a monthly Poetry Reading Group at the Wordsworth Trust, and promoting poetry to fiction reading groups.

Partnership events with national organisations, including the Poetry School, the Poetry Translation Centre and the Poetry Society

Working to make links between contemporary and classic literature, thorugh initiatives like the annual Arts & Book weekend and readings in Dove Cottage

Setting up the Cumbrian Literature Development Network

He is an accomplished and meticulous chair, and in addition to chairing events for DGAA and the Wordsworth Trust, has chaired events for the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal; Words by the Water, Keswick, and the Wigtown Festival.

For further information contact andrewforster@phonecoop.coop

Poem of the Month

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This site will feature a different poem by Andrew Forster every month. This poem seemed very appropriate for February.

RAIN IN LEADHILLS

Ghosts dance in the village today,
their silhouettes slight darkenings
in the gusting rain, like traces
of a rubbed-out pencil sketch
still visible beneath a new drawing.

The miners that named this village
are free of hewing ore in tunnels,
trying to find space to swing a pick,
envying galena that is carted
into daylight and rinsed in the burn.

Now they wring each moment from the air:
stretch to full height, bend their knees,
clap hands like pine branches cracking,
stamp feet like a slate smashing from a roof,
sing in the deep bass of the wind in the street
and throw fistfuls of rain at windows
of cottages too small to contain them.

from Territory Flambard 2010

Contact

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Andrew Forster can be contacted by e-mail
andrewforster@phonecoop.coop

News

2012-01-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Friday 10th Feb 2012

Andrew spent the day at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal judging the 2012 Ann Pierson Awards, a unique series of awards for young writers resident in Cumbria. Thanks to fellow judges Kevin Dyer and Zoe Sharp. The results will be announced at an evening of readings at the Brewery on Wednesday 25th April, with special guest Paul Farley.

Here's last year's winner Grace Ormerod with special guest Helen Mort.

Books

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Signed copies of all publications are available direct from the author. Payment can be made by cheque or Paypal.
Contact andrewforster@phonecoop.coop

Fear of Thunder (Flambard Press 2007) is Andrew Forster's first full-length collection of poems. The poems range from childhood memories through adulthood to art and landscape. They look at what makes us human. The father who can't escape a childhood fear; the airforce pilot who refuses to fly; Elizabeth Bishop taking stock in North Carolina. The wide range of characters speak to us of common experience.

The book includes the poems Horse Whisperer and Brothers, both included in the AQA GCSE anthology 'Moon on the Tides', and Shadows and Winter Night: Edinburgh, both included in the AQA Unseen Poetry anthology. It also includes Mother, Diving, which features on the AQA GCSE sample exam paper.

Fear of Thunder was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2008.

‘Fear of Thunder is a fine collection filled with poems which are both resonant and delicate. Forster is a wonderful storyteller and his poems are populated with family and memoir, characters from many walks of life. Great poets are seasoned and annealed by time and we will gladly look forward to more of Forster.’
— Daniel Thomas Moran, in Poetry Salzburg Review (Number 13)

‘In his best poems he writes not of great expectations but of dreams, desires and hopes unfulfilled. He's good on regret and he's terrific on childhood. He's not wistful and he doesn't do nostalgia; instead he's evocative, perceptive and warm.’
— Keith Richmond, in Tribune (29 February 2008)

£7.50, including postage.

Territory, (Flambard Press 2010), Andrew Forster's second full-length collection of poems, explores what it means to make a home in a particular place, and the relationship with the environment that this implies. Much of the collection is set in the remote former mining village of Leadhills in south-west Scotland, where he lived for seven years, and where these questions are encountered daily. The poems delve into the landscape, history and natural history of Leadhills, its surrounding area and beyond, examining the uneasy balance of our relationship with nature.

‘His descriptions of country life through the seasons offer an evocative perspective on living amidst the forces of nature, which can both inspire and oppress in equal measure.’
PBS, Issue 225, Summer 2010

‘... the reader is spoilt for choice. At line and phrase level the book is replete with vivid and memorable language which lifts free from the page and sticks in the mind.’ [...] ‘Throughout the book Forster advances a sense of loss — of connection, awareness, love of nature — coupled to an urge to respect and conserve the treasures of the natural experience while we still can. For every plea to stop (‘the land’s been over-grazed ... over-beaten, burnt once too often/in the name of regeneration’, Cairnsmore of Fleet) there is a nudge in the direction we should go.’
James Roderick Burns, in Other Poetry, Series 4, No 2.

‘Write about animals and nature – particularly if they are red in tooth and claw – and you quickly find that Ted Hughes casts a rather long shadow. But Andrew Forster is confident enough in this, his second collection of poems, to take on the rich legacy of Hughes from The Hawk in the Rain, Lupercal and Moortown and write about the lives, landscape, history and natural history of Leadhills, an old mining village in Lanarkshire.’
Keith Richmond, Tribune, 30 April 2010

‘Forster is very good at detail and his use of language is accurate and understated.’
Jonathan Davidson, The North, No.47

£7.50 including postage

Digging (Roncadora Press 2010) is a hand-stitched pamphlet containing ten new poems by Andrew Forster with accompanying, integral drawings by the artist, printmaker and artist's book-maker Hugh Bryden. The poems develop the themes of Territory by exploring the poet's new home in the South Lakes. Animal encounters and meditations on snowfall sit alongside poems which try to elucidate a working life spent living in the shadow of Wordsworth, as Andrew spends his days travelling to Dove Cottage to promote Wordsworth's rich legacy.The poems are a taster for the next full-length collection.

The original artwork from Digging has been exhibited at Grange over Sands library and Djang in Bellingham, and , as part of the Roncadora 'In Black and White' exhibition, at Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, and at StAnza 2011.

Roncadora Press was shortlisted for the Publishers Award in the Michael Masks Poetry Pamphlets Awards 2011, for a submission that included Digging.

£7.00 including postage

Also available: Numbered limted edition digital poem-prints from orginal linocuts by Hugh Bryden. The Adder, Rough Island and Winter Trees. Signed by poet and artist.

£7.00 each including postage