The Maze

The Maze was written in summer 2009 in Norwich in the second of 3 visits to the “Worlds” festival of writers organised by Writers’ Centre Norwich. With Worlds 2011 starting this week, I thought it would be good to put it online. Its a great week, and anyone who can get to Norwich is recommended to do so! Each year the writers go on a visit to a local literary spot, and that year we went to Somerleyton Hall, which some readers will know from Sebald’s “Rings of Saturn”. The American poet/anthologist Cole Swensen had just joined the group and I dedicated the poem to her. This photograph by Martin Figura at Writers’ Centre Norwich captures the moment of the poem. The poem appears in my pamphlet “Playing Solitaire for Money.”

Adrian Slatcher, Cole Swensen and Xu Xi

Manchester Independent Book Market Reading

I’ll be reading at the Manchester Independent Book Market in St. Ann’s Square, from “Playing Solitaire for Money”, along with other poets, performance and otherwise, and fiction writers on Saturday 18th June 2011. It’s always a good day, even if it occasionally (always!) rains…. I’m on at 1.20pm in the afternoon.