Paul Matthews Book Launch with an evening of poetry and song

Join poet, author and course leader Paul Matthews, along with the 2024 Storytelling Beyond Words cohort, for an evening of creative nourishment.

Paul Matthew’s will be celebrating the launch of his latest book ‘Touching Bedrock’ with extracts from it, and there will be musical interludes by Sarah Lett. Copies of Paul’s book will be available to buy on the night at £8.99 (cash or cheque only)

Biscuits and juice provided. Donations on entry.

Read more about Paul on his website.

The book’s title can be read two ways. Impasse or contraction is one of them. The purging of all but essential matters is another.

Canticles: These ‘songs’ celebrate the world given back after a life crisis. Wood bleeds where a branch was, then ‘ripples a beauty around it’.

Seasons: The grief and birdsong that accompanied our spring lockdown descend into the ground of winter. A surgical glove ‘scrabbling in the dust’ bears witness to testing times.

Departures: Lost friends are remembered. The writer continues to address them living. ‘Contraction’ comes to serve as a language for giving birth.

Oracles: War, ecological crisis, loss of insight for the fabulous – these touch wider matters. ‘Tongues quick now with a flame within will render dry stone into a speaking thing’.